


A Song of Fire

by TargStan



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Dragons, F/M, House Martell, House Targaryen, Jon Snow is a Targaryen, Plots, Rhaenys Targaryen Lives, Sexual Content, Sibling Incest, Targaryen Restoration, When you play the Game of Thrones you win or you die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-01-08 08:22:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21232745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TargStan/pseuds/TargStan
Summary: Following the death of Oberyn Martell, four Sand Snakes are punished by Cersei Lannister and sent to the Wall.The Wall is not a place for women, women are raped and murdered at the Wall. For this reason, it is perfect for inflicting a punishment on the Martells.What Cersei does not know is that one of the young Sand is not who she says she is.





	1. Clash

**Author's Note:**

> The main couple is Rhaenys / Jon. The others will come later.
> 
> They characters have the ages of the books, but the appearance of the series. The events are above all those of the show.
> 
> Let me know what you think and excuse any mistakes but I'm not mother tongue.
> 
> Enjoy the reading!

The screams of the crowd increased, overlooking any other noise except one. The clash of weapons produced a metallic and violent clang, nothing more melodious to the ears of an excited spectator. The crowd, indeed, was in raptures. The result of the battle mattered little, though many of them had secretly taken a liking to the Dornish contender.  
From his position, Tywin observed, apparently calm, the movements of the duelists. Even if his son's Champion had won, he was Tywin Lannister and he would have found a way out of it anyway. Money can do it all.  
His son Tyrion, however, only hoped for the victory of Oberyn Martell, because otherwise he had an appointment with the hangman.  
Ellaria Sand, behind him, followed the duel with passion and smiled, even though her body betrayed a veil of agitation. Oberyn was fighting well, but his emotional state was unstable.  
Two dark and luminous eyes, hidden behind long black eyelashes, followed the hovering of weapons with hope.  
Rhaena Sand, Oberyn's bastard daughter, convulsively tighten the hilt of her sword, placed in the black scabbard with red ornaments. She wanted to throw herself into the fray and hit Gregor Clegane in person. She craved to do it more than anyone else, yet she couldn't because that was a trial by combat, and intervening would have had consequences.  
She wouldn't get anything and certainly not revenge.

"If that bitch smiles I swear I go there and punch her," a voice muttered to her left. Obara Sand looked straight at the highest stands, under the tent where Cersei Lannister was sitting comfortably. The Queen, contrary to her father, betrayed more than one expression.  
The Mountain was his Champion and if something had happened to Oberyn, she would have won. Yet he could not afford to exult, not in front of the Sand Snakes.

"She can't smile, our father is about to win," Tyene exclaimed, her eyes focused and focused on the fight. Rhaena knew that none of Oberyn's daughters was as fond of him as Tyene, and the latter firmly believed in her father's victory.  
Nymeria, behind her, did not seem as positive. Since that morning she had complained of a negative feeling and had sulked until lunch. Days before she had suggested to his father not to offer himself as Champion, but he had refused, longing for revenge and blinded by hatred towards the Lannisters.  
Obara had made fun of her sister by calling her "Sand Sensitive", but not for long, because she also knew that Nym often had true perceptions.

Suddenly Oberyn stabbed Clegane in the belly and spoke again, and this time he shouted with all the breath in his throat: "Elia Martell. You raped her, you murdered her, you killed her children. "  
Rhaena's eyes became tearful and she soon felt the need to look away. Oberyn was serving her a sweet and slow revenge, on a gold plate, and she couldn't watch. She had dreamed so much of that moment that she now realized how useless it would be; no revenge would bring Rhaegar Targaryen, Elia Martell, and little Aegon Targaryen back to life.  
Killing the Mountain today would not have returned her father and mother.  
Rhaenys Targaryen - or rather Rhaena Sand, because, except the Martells, everyone believed it's her name - had survived her parents with the pain that this entailed and with a heavy weight on the heart.  
Sometimes she thought it would be better to die with her brother Aegon, that his uncle Doran shouldn't have planned exchange between her and a harmless child. An innocent little Dornish, orphaned of parents like her, who had the only fault of being her double.  
That poor orphan, and not Rhaenys, had died in the Maegor's Holdfast.  
When Rhae returned to the Red Keep, seeing the place again and understanding she was there, made her feel small.  
Outside the gates, along the pavement she could still hear the pounding of hooves and, turning toward the gates, she could still see Rhaegar Targaryen's long silver hair as he left the castle. Closing her eyes, she felt his delicate tone in her ears. "My little one, father will be back soon and we're going to play near the sea." Instead, he never came back and Rhaenys had cried so much those days.  
Even though she was only three years old when her parents died, she could still remember small things;  
She remembered her mother's warm, smiling eyes. She evoked Aegon's tears. She remembered father's big, soft palm. Or maybe it's all just a dream, a beautiful dream because those little memories could make her feel better.  
What she really couldn't remember was their faces, nothing sadder.

"You raped her, you murdered her, you killed her children."  
This time Rhaenys looked and saw Oberyn pierce Clegane to the throat, flashes of gushing blood gurgling. The two-meter monster dropped to the ground and the whole crowd exulted. Tyene applauded, while Nym stood still and watched in silence.  
Was it possible that it was so easy?

"You raped her, you murdered her, you killed her children. Elia Martell, say her name!” The same phrase kept repeating itself as Oberyn walked in a circle around the fallen Mountain. Gregor Clegane was not dead yet. The worrying fact was that Oberyn seemed totally out of his mind. "Confess, I want you to confess! Who gave you the order?" He shouted again, pointing at Tywin Lannister. On the other hand, the face of the man in question betrayed no expression, as always. He looked at the Dornish with patience and calmness disconcerted.

"Enough," Rhaenys whispered to herself. "Just kill him."  
She wanted to run to her uncle Oberyn, scream at him to stop it, but she couldn't move. She was simply paralyzed.  
Then it all happened too fast and Nym's omens turned into a nightmare. The nightmare in question took shape before the eyes of the young Dornish women and the horrifying shout of Ellaria rose above any other sound.  
The Mountain had risen just long enough to grab Oberyn and throw him to the ground, and then he had placed himself over him with his thumbs pressed vigorously against his eyes.

The words spoken later, hit Rhaenys like a thousand stabs. "Elia Martell. I killed her children, with their blood on my hands I raped her and finally, I smashed her skull... in this way." The more the speech proceeded, the more the evil Gregor Clegane applied brute force in his hands and finally, with a loud thud, smashed Oberyn's skull.

"No, Father," Tyene shouted, falling to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. Nym covered her eyes and hoped it was all a dream, while Obara shocked continued to stare at Oberyn's body.  
Rhaenys screamed and put her hand on her lips, hitting a feet on the ground, but she can nothing against the cruel fate. They were always the same people. They had taken away her parents, her brother and now her uncle.  
The biggest hurt, however, was that ruthless confession. 'With their blood on my hands, I raped her'.

Then a voice, that of the mandator, of the one who had ordered the Mountain to kill Elia and her children. "Tyrion Lannister, in the name of Tommen of House Baratheon, first of his name, I order to put you to death," Tywin Lannister declared, standing on the long staircase. Beside him, his daughter Cersei smiled.

Suddenly Rhaenys saw only red and felt the dragon fire explode in her veins. "It's not true, it's not a Baratheon, he's just a bastard," she shouted like a fury, unable to stop herself.

"How dare you laugh," screamed Obara in Cersei's direction, and without thinking she threw herself in that direction but was promptly blocked by two guards. The Queen, worried, took shelter behind her father and threw just a small glance at the scene, while many people around her jumped up and started to flee.  
Meanwhile, a stubborn Obara rebelled and was in turn brutally yanked by the men of the Lannisters. Tyene screamed and threw herself at one of them, trying to help her sister, but in vain since the situation only worsened and three more guards hurled themselves at the girls.  
One of them grabbed Tyene's short hair and with a sharp blow made her crash into the lowest step. Now blood spilled from the girl's head.  
The sight of wounded Tyene prompted Nym and Rhaenys to intervene, despite the fact that of the four they were the most laid. Rhaenys threw a punch at the guard who had wounded Tyene, forgetting her uncle Doran's good teachings on royal behavior. Now she was simply angry.

"Thank your Gods that we are unarmed, idiots," Tyene snapped back to her feet.  
The guard struck by Rhaenys stood up with a hand on his left cheek in pain and was immediately struck by Tyene on the right side of the face, returning to the carpet.  
The court in the cavea, meanwhile, enjoyed that sort of extra show and there were even those who were rooting and those who were starting to bet again.  
Tyrion remained still, absorbed and at the same time confused by the scene. He had never seen four simple women give so many problems to armed men. For a moment he even forgot about his condition and began to root for Oberyn's daughters, hoping they would reach the top of the ladder and kick his father and Cersei.

\- - -

If it can interest you I used to imagine Rhaenys with the face of Naomi Scott who played Jasmine in the Disney live-action Aladdin. Here she is :)


	2. The Wall is not a place for women

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhaenys has not yet met Jon or Aemon, but this will happen.  
For now, we're just getting to know her and her cousins better.  
Let's see how much Cersei wants revenge because they took Myrcella away from her and how hard the journey to the Wall is.  
How will the brothers of the Night's Watch react when the girls enter Castle Black?

Tyrion had just been thrown into his cell and now he was alone with himself and with his thoughts. Most of these were about his father, but also his brother Jaime. He couldn't imagine him motionless, as his little brother was executed. Instead, Cersei would have enjoyed every single moment. She would see him pay with blood, in Joffrey's name and secretly also for little Myrcella. She hated also the Martells for this.  
How much he would have wanted to erase from his sister's eyes that conviction of being elusive and untouchable. Make her feel like he had felt in the last day  
The thread of his thoughts was interrupted by a lot of noises; a door wide opened, chains slamming, female voices complaining, and male voices responding crudely with blasphemies.  
Tyrion distinguished four of them, of female voices, and it didn't take long to realize that they were taking the Sand Snakes to the dungeons, not far from him.  
He was surprised to hear, in fact, that they were about to be slammed right into the cell in front of his.

"You hurt me. Are you deaf? You hurt me, idiot!"

"Put those filthy hands away from me, incapable!"  
Eventually, Tyrion heard the sound of a door being slammed and the footsteps of the guards walking away, as they addressed the girls' unkind epithets. The dwarf raised his eyes and shook his head. There were imbeciles among those men, many of them his father's puppets, and, on the other hand, the dornish girls were really stubborn. Oberyn would have been proud of them, Doran a little less.

"You should have thought about it a couple of times before attacking a Queen," he decided to intervene.

Initially, there was a brief silence, then Tyrion heard a crude, hoarse voice. "I'm ready to die with my head held high," replied one of the girls, the very masculine tone. Tyrion realized it was the tomboy girl who had almost thrown herself on Cersei. The sisters had done nothing but defend it, but in the end, they would have paid all four with the same coin. Tyrion knew his sister well.

"Die?" The dwarf chuckled hysterically, with one hand on his belly. Poor naive little girls. "I don't think Cersei will be so charitable and she isn't either so wise to not provoke your Uncle Doran."

"Girls!" whispered a trembling voice. Whoever it was, she was crying like a desperate one. "Our father, he's dead," she whispered, and her tone broke. It looked like they had just started to realize. Tyrion heard a shift of bodies and the sound of rustling clothes and realized that the girls had embraced each other. 

The dwarf sighed and stared at his bound wrists. "I'm sorry for Prince Oberyn, and not just because I'm going to die, I'm sorry he lost his life." He could have assumed he had been recognized. 

"The Lannisters will pay," one of the girls declared as if he were not present.  
'I'm not a Lannister, now I'm just a walking dead man,' thought Tyrion bitterly.

"Yes, they will pay," he concluded, leaning on his side in the hope of finding some rest.

That night Jaime Lannister came to save his brother. The girls of Dorne were awakened by their whispering voices. They heard the two men hurrying out of the cell, though Tyrion paused for a brief moment at their door, before proceeding out of the basement along with the Kingslayer.  
"Did you hear what I heard?" asked Obara, as Nym approached the door and tried to peek out.

"The dwarf is escaped," her sister confirmed, puffing. "Who's going to make escape us?"

"Nobody, we were silly, we didn't reflect," said Rhaenys, lying with her head raised against the wall. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't turn a blind eye until she found out what was going to happen to her and her cousins.

"Are you referring to someone exactly?" asked Obara, sat down and stared at her with dull eyes.

Nymeria turned to the major of the Serpents with an air of reproach and folded arms. "She refers to you and she's also right. You didn't have to act so impulsively."

"Oh, sorry I'm not as thoughtful as you two," Obara snapped. "That bitch was smiling in front of our father's smashed head!" she exclaimed, careless about Tyene standing in the corner alone, still suffering for Oberyn.

Rhaenys turned to her cousin and, with a sigh, admitted: "I wasn't referring to you, Obara, but also to myself. The Queen won't settle what I said."  
She had called her only surviving son a 'bastard' and as much as Cersei Lannister had faked indifference, she would not have forgotten such an affront. She didn't look like a woman who just let it go. That wasn't people to joke with; Tywin Lannister had given orders to slaughter two innocent children and had sent a terrible man like Gregor Clegane just to make sure of this, his son Jaime had killed the King he had sworn to protect and finally Cersei who went to bed with her brother under the eyes of her father and the new King. She will search for revenge for Myrcella.

"What did you think when you called her son 'bastard'?" asked Nym.

"I didn't think," Rhae admitted bluntly.

"Didn't you think? Congratulations, you were me for a second," Obara joked, making her cousin laugh. 

Then Rhaenys tried to approach Tyene and rested a hand on her shoulder. Her cousin's eyes turned to her, and Rhaenys noticed that they were still red for crying.

"Oh, come here," she whispered softly, taking her cousin by the shoulders and locking her in a tight embrace. At first, Tyene remained stiff but, feeling Rhaenys' warmth, melted into her arms. Sometimes Rhaenys seemed able to understand people's pain with a glance.

"I'll recover soon," Tyene muttered, the tone of who trying to convince herself. She wanted to be brave, to see Oberyn crushed in that way had been traumatic. For all of them.

"Imagine what Doran is thinking of us," Rhaenys suggested. "Ungrateful Girls," she said with a precise inclination of the voice reminiscent of that of her uncle Doran. The imitation made everyone laugh, even Tyene.

"Obara and Tyene take Rhae on the wrong track," Obara joked.

Tyene snorted. "Yes, better then Nym who fucked half Dorne."

"At least I'm not going to die a virgin," Nymeria said. She immediately received a warning look from Obara and she recalled that Rhaenys ... "Sorry, Rhae, I didn't want to ... "  
She didn't have time to apologize that bells started ringing. That someone found out about Tyrion Lannister's escape? Yet there, no one had come in the dungeons. So something else had happened, something serious, because the sound of the bells went on for a long time and from lilt, it became more and more urgent.  
The dornish girls listened, unaware of what had happened above them, on the upper floors.

Three days later, following the death of Tywin Lannister, King Tommen had some prisoners collected. It was time to make judgments and of course, Cersei Lannister was attached to her son’s shoulder as if she were a mussel attached to a rock.  
She whispered in his ears and then when the time came for the sentencings, she acted as if they were not all her suggestions. No one could believe that such pragmatic and ruthless punishments come from Tommen.  
Rhaenys was worried about her and her cousins' moment. However, she would not have given to Cersei a satisfaction, she would never have been weak, never bowed before the Baratheons or the Lannisters. She was too stubborn.  
In the end, this was the said of her mother's House. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.  
As soon as she entered the Hall that morning, she had observed the Iron Throne, the throne built by her ancestors, and felt a sense of emptiness. Doran wanted her to sit on that uncomfortable seat. Ever since Rhaenys was a child, her uncle tried to make her understand who she really is and what she needed to recover – the Seven Kingdoms that belonged to her family. He trying to prepare her for the day of her supposed ascent.  
Rhaenys, however, was not sure she wanted the Throne.

"Obara Sand, Nymeria Sand, Tyene Sand, Rhaena Sand," called Grand Master Pycelle. When Rhaenys and her cousins came forward, they were stared by everyone. To their right were even Ellaria and Sarella, another of Oberyn's daughters and a member of the Serpents. Ellaria could not hide a certain agitation; seemed destroyed, but would not make missteps, Rhaenys was certain. Her four daughters were still in Dorne and they were just waiting for her to return. Ellaria was there simply as a spectator because once she got back, Doran would want to know everything. Yet she cares about the girls, so inside her heart she hoped they would be forgiven in some way.

"You are before the Court, judged for attempting to attack Her Majesty, our Queen Cersei Lannister, and mother of King Tommen of the Baratheon House, first of his name. What's your answer to these charges?"

"We are guilty, you do what you have to do," Rhaenys declared, determined. They had generated chaos in front of everyone, blinded by the pain of Oberyn's loss, so there was little to deny or dispute. They would accept head-on any punishment from the Usurpers and the bastard of the Lannisters. The only thing left to do was wait. Doran would have thought about avenging them.

Tommen moved uneasily and went ahead with words that came not from him, but from his mother. Rhaenys felt pity for him. "The punishment you deserve would be one, be executed as traitors. But my mother suggested me to be charitable," he said. There was a long moment of silence, no one produced a sound. "You will be escorted to the Wall, today."  
In an instant, a roar of surprised 'Ohhh' broke out in the Great Hall and a mix of voices spread in the room.

"W-what?" stammered Ellaria.

Rhaenys couldn't believe her own ears. Women were not admitted to the Wall and for good reasons. In addition ... the North, the cold, was not a suitable place for them who had grown up in the far south, in the very hot and dry Dorne. They would die frozen or raped. 

Not even the Grand Master could conceive that choice. "Your Majesty, forgive me, don't you think it would be more merciful to kill them directly at this point? Or maybe we could just execute one of them, as a reminder. Women are not admitted to the Wall. "

"We'll leave the judgment in the hands of the Gods."

Cersei got up impatiently and positioned herself between her son and Master Pycelle. Her cold and wicked eyes, however, were turned to the young dornish girls. She wanted to keep them away from home, just as Doran kept Myrcella away. "The King has made a decision and the Night's Watch will do what they have to do." Then she turned against Obara. "I suggest leaving a little reminder to the eldest of the girls, the one who dared to attack me." She took a moment of suspense. "Cut her hand," she declared in one breath, a satisfied smile on her face.

"No, you can't," Tyene exclaimed when her older sister was taken by three guards and brought to her knees. A fourth man approached Obara with a dagger in his hand. Now even she seemed frightened, paralyzed and it wasn't like her.

Jaime Lannister approached the other three girls and warned them: "Don't move. Do you want to be punished too?" he asked, trying to keep them calm. He didn't like that either. The Wall was not a place for women.

"Stop, all four without a hand will not be able to defend ourselves at the Wall," Rhaenys whispered, addressing Nym and Tyene. They understood and obeyed. Obara's eyes instinctively turned to her cousin, and suddenly Rhaenys realized how powerless she was, she did not have the power to protect her loved ones.

"The right hand, the one with which she used to fight," the Queen of the Severn Kingdoms said.  
The first thing Rhaenys heard was Obara's heartbroken cry. She had never heard anything worse.

That afternoon they gathered four bassoons; Ellaria had quickly procured them clean and warm clothes, including four black furs. They took two horses on which they would ride in pairs.  
They would be escorted by two brothers of the Night's Watch and they would not return until Doran found a solution. That was Ellaria's plan.  
Eventually, they set out on their journey and Obara had not spoken since that morning, indeed she held her stump with a long sulk on her face. No one had the courage to talk to her. They knew her well, it was better not to talk to her when she was so nervous.

"Cersei Lannister thinks she's smart, but you'll see we're going to win the Wall," Rhaenys said, positive and encouraging. 

Nym nodded. "We know how to fight."  
Obara grunted at the consideration of her sister. She could no longer fight, or rather could have learned to do it with her left hand, but at that moment she was too angry with the world to think about it.

"We must go faster!" shouted one of the two brothers of the Night's Watch, the one who seemed to command. He was tall and had a hook nose, though he didn't look like a bad person. In fact, they didn't know the names of those men. "Women at the Wall, look at what we've come to," he muttered shortly afterward, addressing his companion in black.

"If they send us away?" asked Tyene, worried.

Obara, sitting behind her, shook her head with conviction. "They can't. We have two roads, Wall or hanging. Leaving us out would mean hanging us. That Lannister put us in a bad situation and put them in the same bad situation."

"We're still alive, at least ..." remarked Rhaenys with a forced smile. Obara looked at her cousin with an unconvinced expression and wondered how optimistic she would be once at the Wall. Doran Martell had prepared Rhaenys to become a queen, he had taken care of her posture and her manners since she was a child.  
He had always tried to keep her out of trouble, locking her in a crystal showcase, because she probably reminded him of his dead sister Elia.  
Where Obara was resilient, Rhaenys was delicate. Where Nym was mischievous, she was innocent. Where Tyene was a trickster, she was good. She's like Rhaegar, according to Doran, but even more like her mother.  
The pain of the loss of her parents had worked well on Rhaenys, making her compassionate, because she had not yet come close to the dark side of the pain, the one in which Oberyn had sailed for years.  
Obara's eyes softened for a second. 'The Wall will change her,' she thought bitterly.

"Who knows how long you're still alive," the recruiter joked, and his friend burst out laughing.

"Who knows how long you're still alive ... if you keep provoking Obara," Rhaenys replied, in a low voice. Nym's laughter rumbled on King's Road.

The journey was very long and hard, they rarely stopped. The hardest part of the crossing came when they passed the Neck. The Sand Snakes began to be homesick, they miss uncle Doran, their cousin Arianne, the young Trystane, and sometimes even Quentyn.  
The North dilated itself endlessly into a wasteland and cold. They saw snow for the first time, and that was nice until that same snow started to be annoying.  
When they got off the horse they would end up on the damp ground and if they tried to get on the ground they felt even colder. Nym ended up with her feet in a lump of snow and came out with her boots completely wet.  
Tyene found the strength to seduce one of the Guardians, obtaining an extra cloak.  
Rhaenys's positivity, however, began to falter when they overcame Winterfell. The change in climate was shocking, their bodies were not used to such frost and day and night they began to beat their teeth.  
Rhaenys could no longer even feel the dragon's blood, he had bones and frozen veins. There was something strange in the unyielding and glacial wind of those lands, something magical that annihilated the heat.  
The silence had deepened and a long expanse opened before them that seemed not to encounter an obstacle until the limits of the world.  
The hills then became rocky mountains and, four days after Winterfell, the moods became bleak and no one dared to say a word.  
Only Nym, every now and then, complained about missing home.  
Tyene devoured everything that was edible, even things that would have disgusted her before.  
Obara faced the cold with tenacity, as hard as the rock of those Nordic mountains.  
Rhaenys was stubborn enough not to complain, even though she actually wanted to escape.  
Seven days past Winterfell, she had been almost certain to die. The inside of her thighs was peeled, so much so that it almost exposed the living flesh, but she did not let a lament slip. They rarely stopped because of the cold and the Guardians were used to that crossing, unlike the girls. They had sore legs and arms, and the whole body was a block of ice.  
They thought they were real dornish, hard ones, but the journey north had firmly tested their spirit.  
However, they had discovered the name of their recruiter, Gueren, and after an initial mistrust the Guardian had let slip a phrase of admiration: "I expected to see you escape or die on the journey, some of you have not even complained."  
His eyes lingered on all but Nym, and then he returned to skin the rabbit he had hunted. In a way, he respected them.  
The girls realized that whatever dress they had worn would not provide sufficient protection from the freezing night. In fact, when it was dark, the wind blowing looked like a very long blade that passes through the clothes.  
The next day they arrived in the Wolf Forest and then further and further north. When they could they stopped at some taverns, but these became increasingly rare until they completely disappeared. They built shelters, which because of fatigue become less and less elaborate and more destructible.  
They ate what they could hunt altogether, and Gueren soon was no longer amazed by their hunting skills.

Indeed, one day on horseback, he slowed down to be next to the girls. "Maybe you'll survive more than I expected," he joked.

Rhaenys raised an eyebrow. "Thank you ... I suppose, " she murmured doubtfully. 

Gueren burst out laughing. "Courage damsels, look there, we're here."  
At first, seeing Castle Black, the Sand Snakes almost cheered. The journey had ended and now they could look for a fireplace. Soon after, however, they realized that there was little to cheer about and that the time for truth had come.  
The first women to serve at the Wall.  
Instead, Rhaenys felt a black grudge, something she rarely felt, and her eyes went dark. Gueren said Stannis Baratheon was a guest at Castle Black. Stannis was the Usurper's brother.  
In Rhaenys's mind, many horses with golden banners ride near the banks of a river, while a deer and a dragon clashed each other, among the clanging of weapons. In her mind, she once again fought the Battle of the Trident alongside her father.


	3. Castle Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhaenys and her cousins arriving at the Wall and meet new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, here's the new chapter. I would like to point out that I read the last two books seven years ago, shortly after the exit of ADWD, so I don't trust my memory enough about the books.  
I prefer to rely on the show (when it was the real GoT) that I saw again just before season 8. 
> 
> However, all this doesn't really matter since in a few chapters we'll get to Jon's death and there will be no books to rely on, we know why cough GRRM cough.
> 
> Good reading! :)

Once in Castle Black, the Wall towered over them and stretched from all sides, embracing the surrounding territory like a big ice giant. It was morning and, with that particular inclination of the sun, the Wall was a deep blue. It almost aroused fear.  
However, there wasn't much time to stop and look at it, as the brothers of the Night's Watch were already opening the gate to the two recruiters.  
"We're here," murmured Nym, worried, behind her cousin's back. Rhaenys also began to feel terribly agitated and tense, as she saw the large creaky entrance opening and a lot of people training in the courtyard.  
The Black Castle, more similar to a fortress, welcomed newcomers with a dark, grey atmosphere. Its huge towers were several meters high, but none of them seemed very stable, like the rest of the building.  
Rhaenys spurred her horse on following Gueren, so did Tyene. As soon as they entered all the people turned towards them, one at a time until every man present have actually noticed them.  
Almost everyone was amazed, the others seemed to think of a joke, but it was not possible to misunderstand; the Sand Snakes wore black clothes and each one wore a different weapon on its belt. They looked like four brothers of the Night's Watch in a female version. It was clear that they were there to become sort of sisters of the Night.  
Rhaenys looked around and, among the dark faces of those men, was amazed to see another woman, a young girl like her who was attached to a fat boy. She was dressed in poor clothes but she had two kind eyes.  
Even beyond the parapet, there was an adult woman, flanked by a little girl and another woman, with red hair and a low-cut dress. She didn't seem to feel cold, despite the icy wind blowing in the afternoon.  
Rhaenys jumped up when she noticed that a circle of onlookers had formed around them and that the brothers had begun to murmur. 

"How much do you like to joke, Gueren?" asked a man in his fifties, looking out of the balcony. He had eyes as clear and cold as ice, and a menacing, arcane expression. He must have had some importance in the Night's Watch. His granitic eyes looked at the girls and finally stopped on Rhaenys, squaring her body in a way so slimy as to make her shiver. "Tell me a little, when you beat your big fool head? Did you fall somewhere on the Neck or near the Vale?"

"I only brought fresh and fragrant meat, Ser Alliser Thorne," exclaimed Gueren with his usual way of joking that the Sand Snakes had learned to know well. Later, however, he seemed to understand that it was not the time to joke and that Ser Alliser demanded answers, like the rest of those present. "Queen Cersei Lannister sends these girls as recruits. The choice is the Wall or certain death."

An indistinct hum rose among the brothers, while the girls remained silent, waiting. Even Ser Allister Thorne didn't know what to say. "The Queen?"

Suddenly, a black-haired boy began to make his way among his brethren and got close to the Sand Snakes. Rhaenys, who had noticed the movement to his right, turned to the new viewer and was breathless.  
Her eyes and those of him crossed at the same precise moment as if they had attracted each other, in the middle of all that crowd.  
The boy must have been a few years younger than Rhaenys. He was beautiful, not the most beautiful male she had ever seen, but there was something about him that Rhaenys could not decipher well. He wasn't very tall, but certainly a bit taller than her, and had a compact body, it could be seen despite the heavy clothes.  
He had stopped to look at her, he seemed struck by something. He stared at her so intensely and his eyes were so penetrating that Rhaenys felt her heart accelerate and, at one point, she was forced to look away.

Just in time, a man next to the woman in red came as close as possible to the parapet and intervened in the discussion. "I would say that the wife of my dead big brother has gone mad," he objected with a rough voice. The wife of his dead big brother. Rhaenys looked at him with wide-open eyes; there he was, Stannis Baratheon. He was not what she expected to see. She had heard that he was inflexible, tough and stubborn. Her uncle Doran had told her of how Stannis had managed to take Dragonstone, that he was in a bad relationship even with his brothers, so Rhaenys believed she will facing a horrible man and seeing something evil in him, yet there was absolutely nothing. He was simply a tall, grizzled man with dark, severe eyes. "I am King Stannis Baratheon and as such, I command you to bring these poor girls back to their home."

Gueren almost laughed at him, irreverent as few. "And which King of many will assure me that these young women will not be executed?" he asked. In those days of travel, he had become a little attached to the four dornish. "I'm sorry, but if I obeyed all the Kings that pop up in Westeros I'd be already messed up. So I can only worry about who's sitting on the Throne and as long as I breathe I'll make sure these girls stay here."

"This is an affront from the Crown, a lack of respect for the Night's Watch ... We all know what happened to Danny Flint." The boy to the right of Rhaenys, he was the one who spoke. His eyes ran from Stannis to Gueren, they didn't even dwell on the girls.  
In fact, no one had bothered to ask them what they thought. They were women.

"Thank you, Lord Jon Snow, we were dying to know what you think, obvious on obvious" objected Ser Alliser Thorne, the bored tone. 

"We are not Danny Flint," said Rhaenys, taking courage, in a loud voice so that she could be heard clearly. Jon Snow returned to look at her but didn't add anything, perhaps because he didn't expect a reply from one of them.

"There's one more thing I don't understand, recruiter," Stannis reprised, "what did they do so badly to get sent here?"

Gueren turned to look at the Sand Snakes. They had told him a few things in those days. "The official reason is that they almost attacked the Queen."

"They would be useful in my army." Stannis was smiling for the first and last time in Rhaenys' presence, inwardly pleased by the thought. "The unofficial reason?"

"Conflicts between Houses" Gueren specified, however remaining quite vague.

Stannis stopped nodding and raised an eyebrow. Now he was looking at the dornish girls. "You come from Dorne, right? It seems quite obvious from your appearance," he observed, beginning to go down the steps to reach the new arrivals in the courtyard. "Can I know your names?"

Obara grunted and quickly got off the horse, before going to meet Stannis Baratheon. "My name is Obara Sand, daughter of the prince Oberyn Martell," she said and then turned to the other girls, "and these are my sisters." Rhaenys, Tyene, and Nymeria also got off the horse and Rhae realized he was within walking distance of Jon Snow.

Stannis Baratheon could not hide a veil of surprise from the news. He had already heard of Oberyn and his fighting daughters. "You're the famous Sand Snakes" he exclaimed, pointing to them with a smug look. 

"He heard of us," said Nym, who was amazed.

"Obviously, it's inevitable. We often talk about Dorne when planning a conquest and everyone knows about Prince Oberyn's many female daughters. I know that your father is dead and I'm sorry for your lost, but I also know that he fought as Tyrion Lannister's Champion and that he almost defeated Gregor Clegane."

"He had defeated him," Tyene pointed out, "but he was too blinded by revenge." None of the girls asked permission to speak nor apologized for intervening, in fact, Stannis did not know whether to feel offended by their irreverence or admired by their security. The enemies of Cersei Lannister and his bastard sons automatically became his friends and then the dornish people could be valuable allies, the most precious. 

"The Queen smiled when Gregor Clegane smashed our father's skull and I no longer saw us from anger," Obara added, lifting her arm and showing the stump, covered in a thin bandage.

Stannis nodded, faking understanding. "I understand, it was very silly, to be honest, but I understand. Definitely a more engaging story than that of thieves and rapists." In fact, the Baratheon had just had an idea. "I know that Dorne's bastards are considered almost equal to the nobles in your land. So, let's give an example, haggling with you would be like haggling with your cousin Arianne Martell?"

"Arianne is princess heir to Dorne, we're just Sands," Obara tried to point out, struggling to swallow. Her thought had gone to her cousin, just behind her; Rhae would never have negotiated with a Baratheon. Not at that moment and not in that situation at least.

A man with a white beard and kind eyes stopped at Stannis' right. "Interesting, yet you all are very irreverent, you didn't even bow to King Stannis Baratheon," he noted displeased.

"I thought there were no Kings to bow to at the Wall," Rhaenys replied harshly.

"The only one who did not bow is the representative of the Brutes and now they are our prisoners."

Rhaenys, however, continued to shake her head even more obstinate. "We do not represent Dorne, especially not at the Wall. Our bend the knee means nothing. If you want Dorne, try to take it as the Targaryen did." 'If you can', she added in her own head.

The man with the kind eyes no longer knew how to respond. "I'm speechless, I'm truly disappo ..."

"Oh Ser Davos, they're only very impulsive girls, and they've just lost their father", Stannis intervened. That was not understanding, Stannis tried to provoke them by calling them 'only girls', he underestimated them. "Unbowed, unbent, unbroken, right? That's the saying of House Martell." He looked at the girls and finally stopped on Rhaenys. "Let's do this, only one of you will have to bow down to represent the others. I don't ask too much, do I?"

Rhaenys stared Stannis, but Obara could not allow her to bow. Doran would have been disappointed, Rhae was his candidate for the Throne. "No, she will not do it. I'll do it. After all, I'm the eldest." Having said that, without hesitation, she got down on her knees in front of Stannis Baratheon, under the amazed eyes of the sisters.

The man nodded with approval. "The punishment of Cersei has made you wiser than your sisters, Obara Sand. Now get up." Then, as Obara got back on her feet, she turned to the brothers of the Night's Watch present, especially Ser Alliser Thorne. "It seems clear to me that there is little choice. Outside of here, they are practically already dead. Do they have to stay? They'll stay."

Rhaenys saw Jon Snow shake his head, deeply disturbed by that decision and visibly outraged.

Rhaenys and the other girls were escorted by Gueren to the Lord Commander's Tower. Now it was not occupied by anyone, following the death of Lord Mormont, and Ser Alliser Thorne had thought that it would be a suitable place for the Sands. There was one more room that could be assigned to them. The absolute priority was not to let them sleep among the men to avoid as much as possible a case similar to that of Danny Flint. The Queen had left no other choice and they had to organize themselves accordingly.  
The girls entered the room following Gueren and realized that it was completely bare, except for a chair, a table and two cots, which they were supposed to share. The walls seemed to be falling apart, like the rest of the fortress, and their beds smelled of mold. Tyene sniffed and Nym beckoned to vomit.

"This is where you'll sleep," Gueren declared, casting skeptical glances at the girls. They wouldn't have gotten used to Castle Black's uncomfortableness immediately, but they would have felt more comfortable than in the last days of the trip.

"Nice, I'm touched," Tyene sarcastically commented, before launching herself on a creaking cot. "But better than what's outside, so I guess I'll never get out of this tower again."

"So is your plan to die here? Brilliant. Too bad you're going to start training tomorrow," replied the recruiter, and when he noticed that none of them would answer him, he insisted. "No one will worry or care about you, so put it right on your head. You will not have servants who will bring you food and you will no longer be able to bathe with your beautiful scented oils. Tomorrow you will be in the courtyard, you will have to be there and no one will come to call you in person."

"We don't need to train, we can kick each of those rookies without training," Nym boasted, sliding on the cot opposite to Tyene's.

Gueren grunted and rolled his eyes. "Are you always so arrogant? I'm sorry, but everyone has to train at Castle Black, even the unbeatable Sand Snakes," joked the recruiter, before leaving the girls to their business.

"The most difficult part is gone, now we are officially recruits of Castle Black" puffed Obara exhausted, sliding on the cot of Nym. The two sisters tried to adapt in the same space with a little effort, but in the end, they succeeded. Those cots were very narrow and it seemed as if they were sleeping on the floor compared to Dorne's large and comfortable scented beds.

"He's a pig," mumbled Rhaenys with narrow teeth.

Tyene puffed, "Look, Rhae, I know you don't like the Baratheons very much, but could you relax for a second? Come, lie down next to me," she ordered pointing to the free space in her cot, yet her cousin didn't seem willing to obay. 

"I'm not talking about Stannis Baratheon, but about ser Alliser Thorne. He put us here so that when he becomes Lord Commander he can see us whenever he wants. Maybe while we're naked or asleep, it's disturbing." The more the speech progressed, the more Rhaenys' tone became stirred. She felt paranoid. The trip, Castle Black, Stannis Baratheon and everything else, it was too much. "This room doesn't even have a door!"

"I'm used to men watching me naked," Nym cut short.

"Well, I'm not" Rhae snapped, as a woman popped up behind her with a baby in her arms. It was the young woman she had seen in the yard, the one who seemed to have the same age as her. The girl in question petrified like a statue in front of the entrance; it didn't take a genius to understand that there was a nice tense climate in the room and she didn't want to be too much. Her eyes quickly looked at the place, before returning to the dornish girls. 

"Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your speeches. My name is Gilly and I'm here passing through with my son. I thought ... Actually Sam and I, both, thought you would like a female guide. I don't know if I can come in handy, maybe yes, otherwise I can leave immediately. I'm talking too much, I know."

Rhaenys took a deep breath and tried to recompose herself. "No, you're very kind, Gilly. We could use some new friends." Gilly had a very pretty face and seemed like a really good girl, the kind of girl you can trust right away. "Sit down, please. Can I hold him?" she asked, pointing to the child, while Gilly sat down on the only chair of the room. Gilly nodded confidently and let the newborn slide on Rhaenys' arms, with extreme delicacy.  
The dornish smiled to the calm face of the baby and started rocking until he fell asleep in her arms. She knew how to treat the children, holding all those who had arrived in her family, from Trystane to the young daughters of Ellaria and Oberyn.

"Is Sam the big guy standing next to you in the yard?" Tyene investigated. 

"Are you together?" asked Nym, her eyes full of malice. Gilly blushed and put the hands on her own cheeks. 

"Stop be intrusive, you two," Obara yelled at both, before addressing the wildling girl more calmly. "Sorry, they've been too out of the world in the last few days."

"Your son is adorable, what's his name?" asked Rhaenys, sincerely interested.

"He's my little Sam," said the girl with a proud smile. Rhaenys smiled in turn and returned to rocking softly the little one.

"Sam is the father?" Nymeria insisted. "Night brothers can't have women and children, right?"

Gilly became even redder and for a moment she seemed to be in serious trouble, before coming to confess, "No, in fact, my father was his father."

Rhaenys was open-mouthed and with her also her cousins. "Oh ... s-sure, there's no shame, even the Targaryen were married between brothers and sisters." And she was a Targaryen. 

"Seven Hells, in Dorne we're very open but this is really strange, imagine Arianne pregnant by her father," whispered Nym and only later did she get a strong elbow from Obara.

Jon, Eddison, Grenn, and Pyp went to the barn, joined shortly after by Sam, who had shortly before stopped to discuss with Gilly. They hadn't said anything about the scene in the yard until then until Sam came back all anxious to them.  
"Gilly wanted to go to the new girls and I suggested that she take them on a tour of the castle," he began to explain hastily. "I mean, who knows how confused they'll be, it doesn't have to be easy..."

"Where were they put?" Jon asked, interrupting him abruptly, without worrying about hiding a certain worry. The concept of the Night's Watch was very dear to him, they were allies and sworn brother, but he trusted very few of them. Many had not seen women since eternity and only a blind man would not have noticed that those girls were not ugly at all quite the contrary.

"In the Tower of the Lord Commander," said his best friend, attentive to Jon's reaction, "an order from ser Alliser Thorne. He says they'll be safer there than in Hardin's cells."

"Horseshit" grunted Jon and when his friends turned to him, he hastened to explain. "He believes he becomes Lord Commander and settles down in that Tower, so he can see everything they do. You know what I mean?"  
It was clear what Jon meant, as much as the intentions of ser Alliser were clear. 

"Of course we understand," confirmed his friend Pypar, "you've seen how he looked at those girls, like the slimy one he is. He looked overall at the very beautiful one, small in stature, with her fine breast." Jon took a bad look at him. "In short, she, the one Jon has been staring all the time," concluded Pyp with a clearly provocative smile.

Jon frowned and prepared to deny with all his strength, but Eddison intervened in time in his defense. "How to blame Jon, I mean they're all very beautiful."  
"The one looks like a tomboy doesn't make me crazy," Pyp decreed, after a long reflection.  
"I'd do something also with her," Grenn admitted with a mischievous smile on his face that made Sam laugh. "In short, it is said that the dornish girls are very hot in bed. I wonder if they still smell like Dorne ..."

Jon snorted. He couldn't believe his ears. "They're not for us, so get them out of your head right away, don't have any strange thoughts and don't talk about them to anyone. It'll start out very innocently and wittily, someone will notice their bodies, compliment them and then confront the other guys. They will understand that they all want the same thing from them and when they find one by herself ..." Jon horrified, he couldn't even think of it. His friends also suddenly became silent and began to understand that what Jon was saying was terrible and could happen at any time. The Wall is not a place for women.

"We'll protect them," concluded Sam, swelling his chest with fake courage, under the skeptical eyes of his friends.

"Do you already have someone to take the food to your room?" Gilly asked, trying to cover her son Sam, who she had temporarily leaned on the cot of Tyene and Rhaena.  
It was almost evening, it was cold and she had spent all afternoon with the Sand Snakes sitting over the two beds, talking and getting to know each other. They had talked about anything not related to Castle Black; the girls had told about Dorne and their childhood, Gilly had mainly listened and had promised to visit Dorne at least once before dying. It seemed a wonderful place and its inhabitants even more; independent, welcoming, open to others but above all free. There weren't too many labels or rules and you could sleep with those you liked, no one would look bad at you.  
Now, however, it was almost dinnertime and she was starting to starve to death.

"Isn't there a hall where all can eat?" asked Nym, who was doubtful.  
"Of course there is, but Sam wants to hide me from other men. He says the less they see me, the better it is. Besides, I'm a wildling and I might not be appreciated by older members."

"Nonsense," Obara puffed.

"That's not fair," replied Rhae with her arms folded. "By now we are at the Wall and we should be able to eat where others eat, regardless of where we come from and whether we are women. They can't lock us up in this Tower."

Tyene, who had expressed a desire to stay in her room, suddenly felt challenged to do the opposite. "That's right! We'll start by getting out of this tower and going to eat with everyone else."

"Sam won't like it," murmured Gilly, thoughtfully, "and certainly not even Jon."

Rhaenys suddenly became interested. "You mean Jon Snow?" Four pairs of confused and surprised eyes turned to her and Nym smiled with malice. It took Rhaenys a while to understand what she had said looked strange. "What is it? I know his name because ser Alliser Thorne said it in the courtyard."

"And yet I didn't remember it, why?" asked Tyene, amused. 

"Because you weren't busy staring at him all the time, and because he didn't give your look back as intensely," concluded Nym, who had been on the horse behind her cousin and so had had time to notice a few things.

Rhaenys blushed slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'll pretend to believe you." 

Obara was the most confused in that situation. She hadn't noticed any boy at all. "Who is this Jon Snow? Are you referring to the one with long curly hair that has talked Danny Flint's?" she asked, doubtful, and Nym giggled, confirming her theory. 

"He was very nice, I can't have noticed it just by myself," shouted Rhae, incredulous.

Obara snorted. "I prefer women."

"I prefer tanned types," replied Tyene instead.  
Nym didn't say anything at all; on the contrary, she continued to sneer without restraint. 

So Rhaenys concluded that it was better to pretend it was nothing. "He and ser Alliser Thorne didn't seem to be getting along very well," she observed, returning to Gilly.

The wildling shrugged. "Sam says those two have been in conflict since Jon got here. Jon doesn't like ser Alliser, just like you don't. Well, no one does."

"Why is he at the Wall?" asked Rhaenys, with her heart beating a little louder. Inside, she hoped that he wasn't there for doing something bad, otherwise, she may get disappointed. A series of fantasies had started in his head that ... Seven Hells, she felt like a little girl.

Gilly seemed a bit confused. "Who? Ser Alliser?"

Nym sighed. "No, she means that Jon Snow, of course."

Rhae continued to ignore her cousin and nodded to Gilly, as if to encourage her to tell it. "It was his choice. He's a bastard from House Stark, but as you can imagine the bastards aren't treated like in Dorne." Gilly took a short break and Rhaenys felt the sorrow in her heart, imagining bastard's life in the North. "Sam told me that lady Stark treated him very badly and Jon could not stay in Winterfell with his brother Robb as heir to their father. Indeed he wanted to be useful and chose to follow the cause of the Night's Watch."

"It won't have been easy for him," observed Rhae, with one hand on her heart. She could not have known how Jon had lived. She had been treated literally as a queen by her uncles because she was Elia's daughter because they continued to support the Targaryen and therefore considered her, the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, Rhaenys was very good at putting herself in the shoes of others and could only imagine Jon's pain.

Tyene giggled, attracting the attention of her cousin and the other girls. "Want to go and console him, little sweet Rhae?" she asked, mischievous, and Rhaenys rolled her eyes, bored, but secretly amused. "Your legs are ready to open for the first time," Tyene continued, without realizing what she was saying and especially in the presence of Gilly.

"Are you a virgin, Rhaena? How is that possible? You're absolutely beautiful, you must have had so many guys dying behind you..." began Gilly, before being quickly interrupted by Obara.

"I'm hungry, let's go eat," exclaimed the eldest of the Sand Snakes. Rhaenys, who in the meantime had felt very uncomfortable, was really grateful to her.


	4. Welcome between us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon and Rhaenys feel connected.  
After a misunderstanding, they try to understand each other's points of view.  
Then there's the training.  
Good reading!

The entrance to the Common Hall of the Castle Black was one of the most intimidating things Rhaenys had ever done. Descending to the lower floors, she untied her long braid of black hair, simply to be more comfortable, and made sure she had her sword and dagger with her.  
The sword made of Valyrian steel was a gift by her uncle Doran for her eleventh nameday, while the dagger was a gift by Oberyn for her sixteenth nameday, also made with the same material of the sword. This and more for a Targaryen.  
However, there were no other women in the Common Room except for the four of them and Gilly. Evidently the women who were with Stannis Baratheon must have already finished their meal or had eaten in their rooms.  
The Hall was completely filled with men, like that afternoon in the courtyard, but locked in such a dark room they seemed even more so.  
The wildling seemed to be hesitating as if she were ready to run away in a second, but she had little choice because in a lightning-fast gesture Obara closed the door behind them with a thud.  
Those who had not yet noticed their presence noticed immediately, and now everyone had turned towards them. 

"Follow me," whispered Gilly, petrified. She had just seen Sam, sitting between Jon and Grenn, looking at her with wide-open eyes, as if he could not believe his own eyes. Gilly guided her new friends to the corner of the room, where they received a large bowl of soup made from tubers and bread from the cooks on duty.  
When each of them had taken their own plate, they began to look for a place to sit. In a short time, there was a kind of battle between Todder and Sam, both tried to free five seats at their table for the girls. The problem was... the brothers who got up from the table of Sam went to sit at the table of Todder and the same happened to Sam, so the poor unfortunates were promptly driven away from both.  
Gilly immediately noticed it and quickly headed in the direction of Sam, followed by the Sand Snakes, but Clydas and three stewards were quicker to occupy the seats. Sam tried to say something to Clydas but was not heard, and Gilly sighed discouraged.

"Girls, come and sit with us," called Todder and Owen, chuckling.

Rhaenys, however, chose not to give up and approached the table where Sam was sitting with Jon Snow. "My friend had chosen this table before you, so I think you should go back to sitting where you were," she firmly declared, while Clydas turned to her without saying a word.

Obara realized that Rhaenys' polite words needed reinforcement, so she said: "Did you hear my sister? Believe me, you don't want to find out why they call us Sand Snakes in Dorne." Having said that, she abruptly placed a heavy hand on Clydas' small shoulder, and he and his companions suddenly seemed afraid of Obara. Under the amazed eyes of Sam and his friends, Clydas and the others sat down again with Todder and Owen.

"Gilly, what are you doing here?" asked Sam, who was worried. 

"I came to dinner with my new friends," replied the wildling, naively, and Sam didn't find anything to say in front of the Sand Snakes. He would talk to Gilly about it later, alone. "And, of course, with the old ones," Gilly concluded, meaning Sam and his brothers in black.  
The girls began to sit down and Rhaenys was abruptly pushed by Tyene until she ended up right in front of Jon Snow. Obviously it wasn't all a case, but a joke by Tyene and Nym.  
Jon and Rhaenys took a quick look at each other before being interrupted by Obara's words.

"I really think you should go back to sitting where you were, you said. Are you serious Rhae?" she asked, making the noise to her cousin. "Our uncle would be proud of you, really."

"You know, I'd like to get something without threatening" she admitted, throwing a zinger to the major.

When they were all seated, Gilly felt compelled to proceed with the presentations. "Guys, they're Obara Sand, Nymeria Sand, Tyene Sand, and Rhaena Sand." Having pronounced the various names, she had indicated each of the girls to whom we belonged. Immediately afterwards she did the opposite. "Girls, they are Pypar, Grenn, Sam Tarly, Jon Snow, Satin and, sitting next to Rhaena, Eddison Tollett." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," exclaimed Edd, courteously.

"Welcome to Castle Black," added Jon, and once again, he and Rhaenys stopped to look at each other. Jon was interested about this new girl, but in reality, he had recently lost Ygritte. Remembering the wildling he had loved, he forced himself to push deep into that strange feeling of ... What? Familiarity? Attraction? 

Rhaenys smiled at both of them - Edd and Jon- and her smile was so sweet that Jon felt a shake in his chest. "Thank you, on behalf of all us."

"You didn't tell us your boyfriend was a Tarly," suddenly observed Nym, addressing Gilly.

Sam almost choked with his own berry juice and Grenn had to give him a couple of shots on the back. The boy, after recovering, looked around: "I'm not his boyfriend, I'm a sworn brother and as such, I won't take a wife..."

"And you won't have any children, blah blah blah, we're convinced" replied Tyene sarcastically, without being fooled by Sam's bad performance. "In that case it's better because Gilly has already found another guy," she joked, turning Sam red like the sun at sunset over the Narrow Sea. The poor boy almost risked choking himself again. He didn't realize that Tyene was making fun of him.

"Another guy?"  
Grenn and Pypar couldn't hold back and burst laughing out loudly. 

"Sam" murmured Gilly gently, leaning one hand on that of him, "she's joking."

"Oh."  
In the end, he too melted into a shy smile and an atmosphere of harmony fell on the table. The girls appeared to the boys as good company, sometimes too invasive - this was the case with Tyene and Nym, but very sympathetic in many ways.  
Pyp was good at acting and entertained the rest of the company making a loaded imitation of ser Alliser Thorne.  
Often Rhaenys found herself exchanging a few words with Jon and realized that they reasoned in the same way. There was something melancholic and familiar about him, but he was really deep and intelligent. 

"So you spent an evening in the presence of the royal family," observed Rhaenys, with her eyes on Jon's face.

He smiled bitterly and nodded, "Yes, even if it's not the right term since lady Stark had made sure I sat very far from them."

Rhaenys sighed, outraged. "If you had grown up in Dorne, you could have sat next to them."

"Not that I desired to sit next to Cersei Lannister and a drunken King who scream and burmp all the time," commented Jon ironically, making her laugh with taste.

"In fact, you're quite right. My family wouldn't even have received them, really."

"The friction between Houses that Gueren was talking about?" asked Gilly, suddenly intrigued by that fact.  
When asked, a heavy silence fell on the table and Gilly unconsciously realized that she had touched a sore key. Unfortunately, she didn't know much about Westeros' story, nor everything else within the limits of the Wall.

Obara sighed and decided to explain, realizing that Rhaenys couldn't do that, and said: "Our father died trying to avenge his sister, Elia Martell, and her children. I guess you don't know what happened to her." Gilly shook her head. "Well, during Robert Baratheon's famous Rebellion against the Targaryen, she was married to the dragon prince but she was brutally murdered under the orders of the Lannisters. Before she died, however, she was raped and saw her children die. We're talking about a three-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy." Obara made sure to tell everything as quickly as possible, without exaggerating with the details for not to hurt Rhaenys. "There's no need to talk about recent frictions because it all comes from that story." Gilly bit her lip and looked down, unable to say a word. She regretted asking for it.  
Jon touched his chin and instinctively glanced at Rhae. She stood in silence, holding strongly her own hands. She seemed ready to cry, as if that story was still hurting, even though she had probably heard about it many times before. He understood it in some way; even Robb, Rickon and Bran had died in a horrible way and when Jon thought about it he still felt the pain alive, the pain he had felt discovering their fate.

"I think it's getting late," Sam suddenly exclaimed, standing up, "tomorrow we'll have to get up early and you girls have your first training."  
The Sand Snakes agreed and stood up, ready to return to Lord Commander's Tower, when Rhaenys noticed that Jon Snow was pensive. 

"What do you think?" she asked. 

Jon sighed. He was ready to say whatever he thought about that story. "You should not be allowed to train with others. It would be better if you stayed in the Tower." The fewer men looked at them, the better was.

For a second, Rhaenys thought she had misunderstood. "What? Are you serious?"

Jon did not seem to realize what he was saying, nor that it could be misinterpreted, indeed he continued undaunted. "Your presence alone risks insulting the Night's Watch."  
Rhaenys gave him a look of fire and Sam passed his hand over his face.

"I think we're all tired, we'd better go to sleep," Obara blurted, grabbing her cousin by the arm and dragging her out of the Common Room.

"My friend, you've expressed yourself really badly," muttered Sam nervously, when the Sand Snakes were disappeared through the door. Jon looked at him in amazement. "I'm sure you didn't mean what they understood, but they understood that they're not worthy of the Wall."  
Jon returned to look at the door from which shortly before the girls had gone out. He referred to the malicious men who could have insulted the name of the Night's Watch. The story of Elia Martell had lit an alarm bell, he just wanted to protect those poor girls, but perhaps in haste had expressed badly. 

The next morning Rhaenys woke up all sore, almost out of the cot, with the risk of falling to the ground. A soft light peeped out of the only window present, indicating that it was still very early.  
Rhaenys stretched and then turned to Tyene and noticed that she occupied most of the cot, in fact, in the night, it must have pushed her cousin towards the edge. The girl smiled amused at the sight of her cousin sleeping with her mouth open.  
She was happy that at least her cousins behaved normally with her and not as Doran and Oberyn did, treating her like a crystal thing that could break at any time. She wasn't her mother, even though they looked like each other.  
When she arrived at the Wall, she didn't think she should feel treated like that, until Jon had spoken that way, saying that they should stay in the Tower and that they were an insult to the Night's Watch.  
She was disappointed with his words, but in fact, they had not given him time to explain. According to Doran, she was sometimes too stubborn, in fact, she spoke of "dragon blood erupting", and being with her cousins had not made her more patient.  
Rhaenys got up and stretched again. She dressed in heavy clothes, quickly twisted her hair, took her sword and dagger and wore her black cloak before finally leaving. She loved to walk in the early morning when everyone else was asleep.  
Her walk crossed the courtyard, taking it to a small sept, where she sat a little. Her was the faith of the seven, as it had been for her mother and father. 

Suddenly a sort of music came back to her mind and she began to sing.  
She didn't know the words of that song but he knew the melody. She knew it was written by Rhaegar when she was born and, during her sixteenth nameday, Doran called a King's Landing musician who remembered the sound. The melody for the music was very melancholic, like a farewell lullaby. Rhaenys, listening to it for the first time, had burst into tears.  
She had spent most of her life wondering why Rhaegar had run away with another woman, but above all, she had always wondered if he loved her, if he cared at least a little that she didn't have the typical Targaryen traits or if taking her in his arms made him feel happier.

"You have a beautiful voice," said someone behind her. Rhaenys turned slowly, even though she knew exactly who that voice belonged to. Jon Snow was standing at the entrance to the sept, looking at her almost shyly. 

"Thank you," murmured Rhaenys as she returned to look at the altar.

However, Jon did not give up but rather moved forward slowly until he sat down next to her and took a quick look at the seven-point star. He had never really understood that faith, but he knew what it meant to pray and hope to be heard. "We follow the Ancient Gods. Lady Stark and my sister Sansa always prayed together in the Godswood in Winterfell. Lady Catelyn demanded that all her children pray with her, but Arya fought like a man and Bran climbed everywhere," Jon remembered with a weak smile. "Until he fell." His smile went away as it was born.

Rhaenys turned slightly towards him. "And then what?"

Jon lowered the head. "He was paralyzed in the end, but I guess it doesn't matter much now. I heard he went beyond the Wall, he could even be dead."

"Don't lose the hope," she objected.

"A little boy who can't even walk..." sighed Jon. In fact, it was a little difficult for such a small boy to survive in such conditions and, as if that were not enough, beyond the Wall. "I also lost my father, my uncle, my brother Robb and maybe even the little Rickon and Arya. Maybe Sansa is alive, but she is in the hands of the Lannisters. Believe me, I understand how you and your family feel."

"I'm sorry! You didn't deserve this, Jon." Rhaenys felt very sad for him. So many misfortunes had happened to him, yet he stayed there, fulfilling his duty. She admired him because didn't know how she would behave if she was in the same situation.  
Between them came a deep and peaceful silence, interrupted only by the voices outside the sept. 

"Forgive me," they both said in chorus, before looking at each other with an embarrassed smile.

"I'll start," Rhaenys decided. "I'm sorry I didn't let you talk last night, I was too reckless."

"No, I'm sorry, I expressed myself really badly and I can only imagine what you understood," he apologized. "I don't think that you women are not worthy of the Night's Watch, on the contrary, I think that it is the Night's Watch that is not worthy of you. The insult I meant is not that you are here, but that you are here and someone could hurt you. It's already horrible that there are thieves and rapists among my brothers, I was ashamed because of it as soon as I arrived at the Wall, but now it can be even worst."

"You're very kind to worry, but my uncle has been worried enough and you know it's not very nice to always feel like an object to put in a glass case and look at, we're not that and we'll show it to you in training."

"You can fight all you want, but if five men find you alone..." Jon tried to say. Rhaena's naivety was dangerous. "Look, maybe you don't realize it, but anything can happen, also because you're so..." The boy was forced to interrupt himself, realizing what he was about to say. He must have gone mad. He wasn't so brazen.

However, Rhae seemed intent on understanding what he meant. "So? What am I like, Jon?" she asked, unconsciously leaning toward him.

Jon turned slightly toward her and discovered that they were very close. Rhae stared at him, waiting for an answer, and Jon thought there was nothing wrong with it, so he admitted: "You're beautiful, Rhaena ... All you girls are beautiful." He tried to fix it at the end.  
Rhaenys blushed slightly and smiled at him, as a thank-you. She had already heard other guys call her "beautiful", but she was never interested. For some strange reason hearing it from Jon was different. He was different.

"Tell me about them, tell me about Winterfell and your family, about Arya and Bran, about your childhood," she told Jon.

He seemed amazed, but he didn't get too excited. "You can be bored," he said with a tense smile.

"If there's one thing you'll learn about me, it's that I'm a good listener."

"I'm not a very talkative guy," admitted Jon, embarrassed.

"I hadn't realized it yet," joked Rhaenys, the ironic tone, and the bright eyes. So she kept on insisting, after which Jon decided to tell the story of Winterfell.  
Together they commented Master Luwin who made them feel guilty every time they distracted themselves during a lesson, Arya who fought like a boy and Sansa and her needles.  
Jon felt very light about confessing those things to Rhaena and, just for a moment, he thought he had returned home. 

The clangor of weapons at Castle Black grew more and more. By now every recruit was in the yard.  
Rhaenys had met a boy named Olly, while Nym was talking about clothes with a very feminine boy named Jeren.  
Jon was training them and giving them defensive demonstrations. Rhaenys watched him closely as he fought and was amazed at how prepared and agile he was. He moved very well as if he were one with his sword, but above all, he did complicated things as if nothing had happened.  
Time passed quickly and, when the sun was high, Jon began to organize duels. Olly was turned against a big but slow man, Jeren was assigned to a bearded man and almost everyone started a duel.  
The girls and a few other men were left out. Rhaenys hoped that Jon wouldn't be worried about them yet. He may not have heard of the Sand Snakes, but he could guess something from their nickname.  
She was eager to show him that she could fight, and also well. Training almost every day with Oberyn Martell had paid off. 

"Lord Snow" shouted suddenly ser Alliser Thorne, with his rough voice. Jon rolled his eyes and turned towards him. "Put the males aside. I want to see what these damsels are capable of," he exclaimed, pointing to the Sand Snakes.

Rhaenys exulted inwardly; even ser Alliser came in handy in something. Jon, however, did not seem convinced to throw them so into the fray and he did not mention a word.

"Can I use a hammer?" Obara asked, out loud. Ser Alliser raised an eyebrow and she just lifted the stump. "I usually use a spear, but without a hand, I'll have to make do with it."  
Rhaenys knew that Obara had been thinking about it throughout the trip, wondering what kind of weapon she could use with one hand and still be good. She had never been a great lover of swords or daggers, so she decided to avoid them. For a long time, however, she had been undecided between a hammer and a mace. In the end, she had opted for the first one.

Ser Alliser Thorne shrugged his shoulders. "Do as you wish. You against the big one."

Jon sighed and left room in the middle of the square, putting himself in a nearby corner, always ready to intervene. Obara took a hammer she had found in the armory and faced the big man who had previously confronted Olly.  
On the balcony Gilly and Sam, like many others brothers of the Night's Watch, were spectators and Rhaenys also saw what was to be Stannis' daughter in the corner, with a big book in her hand and her eyes on Obara.  
The eldest of the Sand Snakes began to move, demonstrating all her aggressiveness and readiness for reflexes. More than once she risked being hit, you could see that she was not used to fighting with a hammer, but she managed very well.  
Rhaenys had always thought Obara was the best at fighting, and she would certainly come back strong as before, even without a hand. She just had to train.  
In the end, after many attempts, Obara managed to hit the beast on the wooden cover on his shoulder and Jon declared the fight over.  
Then it was Nym's turn since they had decided to go in order of age. She moved with gracefulness against a small opponent, not the best in combat but fast. Nym used a spear while he used a sword. However, she managed to disarm him in a short time.  
Tyene came forward and she was assigned a River, a bastard from the Riverlands. She took longer than Nym, but less than poor Obara, and eventually disarmed the unfortunate man using her two faithful daggers.  
The recruits in the yard and the Night's Watch above the parapet began to mumble. They certainly didn't expect so many fighting skills from four women. Three, in fact, because Rhaenys had not yet fought.

"Well, now it's the turn of the smallest one. Let's make a sword to sword clash. What do you say, Lord Snow?"  
The murmur stopped and everyone turned to look at Jon Snow, then passed to Rhaenys, and vice versa. Jon didn't know what to say. The others had fought with recruits, of course, ser Alliser had chosen good recruits, but Jon Snow was not good, he was excellent. 

"I don't think so" Winterfell's boy began to protest, his eyes pointed only at the cold ones of the old brother of the Night's Watch.

"I do," replied Rhaenys, pulling out her sword and taking the center of the free square. She wanted to show Jon that she was good and what better opportunity than to fight directly against him. The youngest one turned inexorably towards her, still disappointed. "Are you afraid of hurting me, or of hurting yourself?" asked Rhaenys, intent on provoking him, pushing him to fight.

Jon smiled spontaneously and shook his head. What a stubborn one that girl. "Be careful" he warned, approaching her and lifting his sword with an exciting look of pure challenge. His weapon was a little bigger than Rhaenys's, which was designed by Sunspear's blacksmith on her small size.  
At first, Jon tried not to be too reckless, he absolutely didn't want to cause her a scratch. However, after a couple of well-placed swords stokes by Rhaenys, he had to change his mind; she knew how to move, she was very agile, but her strong point was absolutely in the speed. Her fighting style was very pretentious, less concrete than Jon's, she twirled and dodged more than once, but more than once he risked being hit on the protected shoulder.  
After a short combat, they stopped and looked at each other. Rhaenys knew she couldn't win against Jon, he was too good, but she smiled impertinently anyway. She was going to move with cunning.  
When they started fighting again, Jon became less careful and more competitive. It was starting to get hot. He almost felt excited about the fight.  
The fight turned into a kind of dance. Neither tried to hit the other one, but they both wanted to prevail.  
The duel lasted a long time, but it seemed short to the two contenders.  
Finally, Jon disarmed Rhaenys. She knew it would happen. 

"Try to get me" she provoked him, with malice she didn't even know she had.  
Jon approached and threw a sword stoke, which she avoided, before grabbing her own dagger with a lightning-fast gesture. Jon tried to lock her wrist but she let the dagger slip and grabbed it with the freehand.  
In the end, he had leaned his sword to her neck, but she had leaned the dagger against Jon's nape.  
Rhaenys mellowly approached Jon and, forced to rise on her toes, placed her chin on his shoulder. Jon could feel her firm breast against his ear. "Now you can stop protecting us. Your watch is ended, Jon Snow." Rhae's very hot breath gently tickled Jon's neck, just for a moment, before she picked up the sword on the ground and walked away from him.  
Jon remained there, a secret smile on his face and the ghost of her lips grazing his ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The combat described cannot be like that between Arya and Brienne, because Jon and Rhaenys have two swords of similar size. However, the final moment with the dagger takes its cue from the fight between Arya and Brienne.  
Let's start to understand what problems brought the Rebellion to Rhaenys. She wonders if she was loved by her father because he left her, it's something she suffers about.  
  
In the next chapter, Rhaenys will make some acquaintances, including a very special one.


	5. Another Targaryen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhaenys makes some new acquaintances and discovers what happened to Jon and especially to the Wall in recent months.

The next day, early in the morning, Rhaenys was assigned to guard the Wall with Edd.  
Ser Alliser Thorne had given very clear information; one call sign for a returning brother, two for wildlings. He hadn't added anything else.  
So while Nym was on duty at the kitchens, Tyene and Obara had received other tasks related to Castle Black, she would finally see what was beyond the Wall. She still had to get used to the cold, but above all to the vision of that huge mass of the Wall that still managed to put the ice in Rhaenys' bones.  
With the dark sky, at that moment of the day, the Wall appeared a leaden grey and had a menacing, almost macabre look. At night it was even scarier.  
Gueren had said that perhaps there was no older thing in the Seven Kingdoms still standing. Along with its profile, cranes and catapults stood as extensions to the sky.  
Wrapped in thick fur, Rhaenys walked to the wooden staircase that climbed along the south side. For some strange reason, her heart was in her throat. She was about to climb when she was blocked by two voices.  
Jon Snow and that red woman named Melisandre - it said she was a follower of the God of Light - approached the iron cage and Jon immediately noticed Rhae. 

"Rhaena, come with us," he encouraged, stopping at the door of the cage. Melisandre had already entered and she waited, patient.

The girl thought about it for a moment and eventually agreed to go up with them. Jon gave a strong pull to the rope of the warning bell and in a short time, they began to climb, upwards, higher and higher. And it was getting colder and colder. However, Rhaenys could withstand the icy wind, as if there was an unquenchable heat in her bones that prevented the cold night from prevailing.

"Princess Shireen told of you and your sisters," began Melisandre. Rhae was looking the other way because she didn't want to look that woman in the eyes, she was afraid she might read something in her eyes. She couldn't risk being discovered. "She said that you are great fighters, that looking at you she thought back to Visenya Targaryen and to many queens or princesses like her.

Rhaenys felt a thrill and finally understood why she had that bad feeling, her heart in her throat. She shouldn't have been close to that woman. "Thank Shireen Baratheon for us, or maybe I'll take care of it if I have the chance to chat with her," she concluded, without mentioning that she wanted to continue the conversation.  
From her position she couldn't even see Jon's face, she was almost leaning against the bars of the iron cage, which seemed never to arrive at her destination.  
Slowly Rhaenys looked down and realized how empty and desolate everything was and how Castle Black seemed abandoned, an ancient fortress in ruins.

"Virgo?" Melisandre suddenly asked, causing her to jump for amazement. How ... she could not believe it.

"I ..."

"No, it wasn't really a question," replied the red woman, without even giving her time to answer. "I know you're a virgin. There's a kind of trauma in your past."

Rhaenys was breathless. She tried to focus on what was around her but felt Jon's eyes stuck in her back, and she even managed to feel Melisandre's smile. "You know nothing about me, priestess." It was a simple whisper, a light sound destined to disperse in the wind.

The red woman squeezed Rhaenys' right wrist with strength and vigor. The girl was forced to turn towards her and their eyes crossed inexorably. "Your blood is so hot," Melisandre decreed, her eyes looking in-depth in those of the youngest woman. "There's a fire burning inside you, it's something alive."

Those words were like a stab for Rhaenys, who pulled abruptly her own arm away and turned a look of pure aversion to the woman. Fortunately Melisandre didn't seem to had connected the fire to the Targaryen, otherwise, Rhaenys would have been finished, dead. She was wrong to go in there with her. Now she felt sick, her head was spinning.  
"You don't know anything about me," she repeated more confidently before they arrived at the destination. Once stationary, she rushed out of the iron cage, without saying goodbye to Jon, and immediately intercepted Edd.

However, as she moved away with him, she heard Jon Snow nervously mumble, "There was no need to besiege her like that." No answer came from Melisandre.

"Are you okay?" Edd asked when they were far enough away. Obviously, he understood that this woman was involved. "You seem a little shaken up, did he say something bad to you?"

"She seems to know everything about everyone, it's not a good feeling," Rhaenys began to protest, but she stopped when she remembered that she was finally at the top of the Wall. Her eyes raised and turned towards what was supposed to be the land of the wildlings.  
She knew some things about Free Folk, mostly stories told by Oberyn and her nurse. Nothing detailed, of course, Dorne was not the North, on the contrary, it was the most opposite thing.  
A few years earlier Rhaenys was fascinated by the culture of the Free Folk as well as by that of the Dothraki, free and distant peoples, but above all free. They didn't have to worry about a throne or conspiracies, they didn't have royal blood, no dragons or lions.  
Later she understood what happened to women among the Dothraki and questioned an environment like the cold North.  
Now, however, there above she could remember what she thought when she was a little girl, the fantasies that came into her head when she heard about those distant peoples.  
There were no roads beyond the Wall, just small paths and fords. The territory was completely covered with snow and seemed to extend to the ends of the world. 

Edd seemed to notice the wonder of Rhaenys because he began to point out and explain the places Beyond the Wall. "What you see is the haunted forest, where there is a Godswood for those who want to make their vows before the Old Gods. Beyond it, there is a region called Thenn. If you go west you can see a mountain range, the Frostfangs. But there, somewhere further east, is Hardhome, a settlement full of wildlings."

Rhaenys smiled, fascinated. "My nurse was an elderly woman from King's Landing," she said, and sweetly remembered that woman who had saved her life. Her name was Beth. She had plotted with Doran, crossed the underground passages of the Red Keep and, having reached the forest, had exchanged Rhaenys with that poor child, very similar to her. After the fall of the Mad King, Beth was spared and went to Sunspear, remaining faithful to the Martell until her death and taking Rhaenys' secret to her grave. She said she had heard Elia's scream and Aegon's cry, but she had never revealed all the details of that gruesome day. "Her grandparents, however, were from the North. They had told her a lot of stories and she tried to pass them on to me. They were scary stories about monsters, giants and dead people walking Beyond the Wall. Ancient stories, past beliefs."

Edd seemed ready to say something, but in the end, he preferred not to talk about it. A dark shadow appeared in his eyes as if Rhaenys had touched on a delicate subject. But perhaps he wasn't the one best placed to tell her about the real dangers out there.  
Suddenly they heard voices and turned around. Behind them, Jon was arguing with Stannis Baratheon.

"What do you think they're arguing about that way?"

"Free Folk" nervously murmured Edd. They started walking again. "Stannis wants their king, Mance Ryder, to bow to him."

"Why does he talk to Jon about it?" she asked. She still couldn't understand what was going on.

Edd sighed and prepared to tell a long story. He told everything; from the journey that ended at Craster's House to the Battle that they had just fought against the Free Folks.  
Rhaenys listened to the story with great interest and was amazed when Edd explained about Jon and his time with the wildlings. Then the brother of the Night's Watch clenched his teeth and took courage, in view of the most delicate part of the story. "Jon knew this very nice wildling girl, long red hair ... I think he was deeply in love with her and I think he broke his vows with her, having sex with her" he began. Rhaenys stopped and was paralyzed. She didn't expect that. 

"Is she here now, prisoner of Stannis Baratheon?"

Edd emitted a long sigh of tension. "The Battle took place about a month ago. We found Jon with her body in his arms."

Rhaenys carried a hand on her lips and felt a big lump in her throat, which she knew she was feeling bitter. To think that only the day before she had made that whole flirting with Jon, a move that also wasn't typical by her, but more by Nym. Perhaps he still had another girl in his head, a girl died one month earlier.

"I once heard Master Aemon say that love is the death of duty," commented Edd, trying to ease the tension. Rhaenys' mind wandered relentlessly from one piece of information to another, until it dwelt on that name. 

"Aemon?" she cautiously asked. Maybe she misunderstood.

"Aemon Targaryen, Master of Castle Black, once uncle of the Mad King," explained the brother of the Night's Watch in one breath. Then, when he noticed the deep bewilderment on Rhaenys' face, he realized that perhaps it was better to stop talking about Castle Black and Free Folk, look for cheerful topics. The problem was that he couldn't exactly be called a cheerful guy.

Tyene had been carrying objects back and forth since that morning and, as if that weren't enough, the unfriendly Ser Alliser Thorne had thought of having her carry a heavy pile of new books, just arrived at Castle Black to be inserted in its library.  
He could send her to the kitchen to help Nym and leave the heavy work to Obara, but he had done exactly the opposite. That fool thought it was funny maybe.  
She was asking Grenn where the place was, when Rhaenys came up behind her like a lightning bolt, scaring Tyene.  
"Oh Seven Hells! Don't do it never again!"

"I MUST come to the library with you because you're taking the books to the library, aren't you?"

Tyene nodded, confused. Her cousin's hair was completely messed up by the wind. "Good day to you too, we haven't seen each other since last night. Let me guess, you got up early again."

Rhaenys turned her eyes. "Tyene! There is a Targaryen in the library, Aemon son of Maekar I" exclaimed, joyful and heedless of being heard by anyone.

Tyene was amazed. She knew well that for all her life Rhaenys had wanted to meet another Targaryen. "What are we waiting for then? Come on, before Ser Alliser Thorne gives us more homework," suggested, before driving Rhaenys through the dark corridors of Castle Black, following the directions Grenn had given her just before.  
The heart of the Targaryen girl was beating so fast and after every step, it grew more and more. She didn't know whether to be happier or more agitated. She was about to meet a relative on her father's side. She still couldn't believe it. It has been hard even to wait for the end of her turn on the Wall. She was having a morning full of emotions and surprises, which didn't seem destined to end.  
The library was in an underground chamber at the base of a steep staircase.  
When they finally arrived at their destination, they entered with awe, Tyene less in comparison to Rhaenys who moved slowly, with reverential respect.  
The room was permeated with a strong smell of dust and paper. There were high wooden shelves full of books with leather bindings and old rolled parchments.  
Rhaenys looked at all the books in the collection with wonder; they must have been thousands, unfortunately very disorderly. Who knows how long they were there.  
The only thing she loved more than music was the books. The smell of the pages and the sense of curiosity when she caressed the edges. Doran and Oberyn said it was one of the most obvious things she had inherited from Rhaegar.  
Rhaenys kept walking until she found herself at a table. Not far from here was sitting a wrinkled, but above all blind, old man. Edd had warned her of Aemon's blindness. The old man had white hair that one time was platinum blonde. Suddenly Rhaenys' heart subsided and she found a kind of serenity. There he was.  
Next to him sat Sam and Shireen, her face disfigured by the Grey Disease.  
As soon as Rhaenys and Tyene approached them, they were immediately noticed.

"Gilly, are you back?" asked Aemon, uncertain. The hearing must still be functioning.

Shireen laughed, "No, Master Aemon, it's the Sand girls."

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you girls to this dark hovel?" asked the old Targaryen, with extreme kindness. Rhaenys smiled unconsciously. 

"They have new books," rushed to explain Sam. "Come with me, Tyene. We're going to fix them up now."  
So Sam and Tyene disappeared behind a couple of shelves, but before moving away Tyene took a significant look at her cousin. She was trying to tell her to come forward.

"Can I sit down?" Rhaenys asked and when Aemon said yes, she got courage and sat down next to Shireen. It certainly made less of an impression than being close to Aemon Targaryen. "What are you reading?" she continued, looking at the book above the table.

"Stories of dragons," Shireen admitted, bringing the book closer to her. "I read to Master Aemon a story about his family, namely that of Rhaena, the Bride in Black. It's a coincidence that you came here when we were talking about your namesake, in fact."

Rhaenys smiled, pleased by one detail; Shireen must have been very interested in her and her cousins because she seemed to already distinguish their names. All she had done was stare at them while they were training. Maybe it was Sam and Gilly who told her about them. 

"Rhaena? That's your name?" asked the Master, who was visibly amazed. "This is not a typical Dorne name, it's a Targaryen name."

The young woman lost a beat of her heart but remained composed, all in one piece, as she had done in the iron cage with Melisandre. She was used to acting. "Name that was chosen by my mother. She had Valyrian origin. She wanted me to have an important name, but not too much, not like Visenya ..." 

"Or Rhaenys" completed Master Aemon with a clever air.

"Or Rhaenys" she confirmed it, the eyes pointing to the wrinkled fingers of the old man. Having said that, she remained silent and began to reflect. She had so many things to ask him, but she couldn't with Shireen in front of her. Perhaps, once she would be alone with Aemon she could confess ... 

"You can fight really well," Shireen observed, after a moment of shyness and hesitation. "I like how you turn, how you dodge the shots and then hit. Who taught you how to fight like that?"

"Thank you, you're very kind," murmured Rhaenys, distractedly, thinking about something else. "My uncle gave me lessons," she said, before realizing her own mistake. She had unconsciously called Oberyn "uncle".

In fact, Shireen was not just another child of her age, on the contrary, she proved to be rather alert and informed. "Isn't your uncle Doran Martell? I know he can't stand up. How did he do sword lessons?"

Rhaenys took a deep breath and faked an amused smile. "No, dear, I meant that my uncle Doran gave me theoretical lessons, explaining to me how to distract an opponent and similar tricks. My father Oberyn trained me on the field." She was already tired of lying. It was suffocating. She wanted to shout to everyone who she was, that her father was called Rhaegar Targaryen and her mother Elia Martell, without having to worry about the consequences. And yet she can't.

"You scents of Dorne", Master Aemon suddenly declared.

Rhaenys gave him an astonished look. "Have you been to Dorne?" she asked. 

"No, but I once left Castle Black. It was the wedding of my nephew's son and I had been invited. Rhaegar was marring Elia Martell." Young Targaryen girl carried a hand on her chest. It was not possible. He had met her mother and father. "I would have liked to have been there even when their little ones were born, but I wasn't young enough to go back and forth from here to the capital so many times."

Rhaenys bit her own lip and let her hair slip in front of her, hoping not to show off her shiny eyes. "You didn't tell me why you think mine is the scent of Dorne," she reiterated with a shaky tone of voice.

Aemon smiled, blind eyes trying to chase a memory. "Rhaegar's wife, Elia, smelled of oils and sunshine, a sweet and sour scent that I never forgot. I always imagined that it was Dorne's perfume. It has remained in my memories to this day, I don't know why."

For the first time since she arrived at the Wall, or perhaps even longer, Rhaenys felt her heart implode with happiness. That wasn't Dorne's perfume, it was the perfume of her family. A part of her family. She was happy to have just met the other part of it. 

When night fell, Rhaenys couldn't even stand up because she was tired. The day was been full of discoveries and mixed emotions, work and new acquaintances.  
That afternoon she had told her cousins everything and at dinner, in the Common Hall, she told Gilly how she felt looking Beyond the Wall.  
Samwell and his friends listened with interest to the girls' stories, all tired but surprised at how well their third day had gone. They themselves were surprised. Nym continued to complain about the certain cold, but everything else proceeded regularly. They were never left alone.  
Obara began to tell of the nasty response she had given to Ser Alliser Thorne and Bowen Marsh when Rhaenys realized that Jon Snow had not yet gone down to dinner.  
So, instead of listening to Obara, she began to become anxious. Maybe Jon was still with Stannis. 

"Boys," she immediately exclaimed, "where is Jon? Doesn't he eat?"

The guys looked at each other, evidently knowing something she didn't know. 

However, Pypar would not have given a serious answer that evening, as he was in the mood to joke. "Ask him where Jon is," he said, pointing to a point behind Rhae.  
The girl turned with a very strange feeling on her skin and almost shouted at the sight of a huge wolf. No, it was not a common wolf, Beth had spoken of that kind of creature. That was a direwolf.  
His hair looked as white as a mantle of snow, but his eyes were something impressive. Red like blood, or like fire.

"Who the hell is it?" screamed Nym, frightened. When she had seen the direwolf, she had practically snapped to sit on the long table. A lot of brothers started to laugh. 

"He now loves to walk around, it's no wonder that you haven't shown up yet," joked Sam, cleaning his mouth out of the soup. "Girls, I'd like you to meet Jon's direwolf. He's Ghost."

'He belongs to Jon' thought Rhaenys, reassuring herself. "I always forget that Jon is a Stark," she admitted, without taking her eyes off the imposing figure of Ghost. She thought the name was incredibly appropriate. "Perhaps because one of the first things I knew about him was that Lady Stark never treated him as ... Oh!"  
He didn't have time to finish the sentence that Ghost walked toward her until he finished close to Rhaenys's face. She jumped but tried to be brave and to stay still.  
'Dragons blood runs through my veins, the blood of the old Valyria' she repeated in her mind like a mantra, an attempt to remain calm.  
In fact, Ghost didn't seem threatening, he just smelled Rhae as if he was trying to understand something about her. Only for a second, Rhaenys thought that the direwolf knew her true identity.

"What's going on?" Edd asked, standing up.  
Many brothers of the Night's Watch were going out, followed by everyone else. They were murmuring something incomprehensible. Ghost immediately imitated them.

"Let's see what happens," Tyene suggested, taking Rhae's hand. 

They, in the company of Edd and the last ones left in the Common Hall, followed the rest of the crowd, until they came out, under the moonlight.  
A pyre had just been set up in the courtyard, and Stannis Baratheon stood in front of it. The red woman walked beside him like a mystical figure in the night.  
Sam and Edd saw Jon behind Stannis and were about to join him, with Ghost pounding in front of them. Rhaenys, Gilly and the other girls stayed where they were, although Rhaenys repeatedly looked for Jon with her eyes, just to understand what was going on. He, however, seemed extremely pensive, gloomy and conflicted. He stared at a point in front of him and didn't look anyone in the face.  
When a man with tied wrists was dragged out, it became clear what was happening. That must have been Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall of whom Edd spoke about that morning. A brother of the Night's Watch who had broken his vows and had to join the Free Folk. Put in a corner with their wrists tied, men dressed as wildlings watched helplessly the scene.  
That pyre in the middle of the yard must certainly have been ready for him.

"Mance Rayder, they called you King Beyond the Wall," Stannis said, loudly and confidently. "In the West, there is only one King." Rhaenys clenched his fists and shook his head. So that was her destiny too if Stannis found out who she was. If someone is called King or Queen by someone else, that person represented a threat to him. "Bend the knee and I'll be merciful."

"I wish you good luck for the wars that await you," replied the King Beyond the Wall that stood proudly in the night. Rhaenys felt a strong admiration for him. It took courage.  
Stannis hardened and ordered a couple of his men to lead Mance Rayder over the pyre. The night had gotten really cold. 

It was Melisandre's turn, who began to argue as animated by her religion. "We must all choose. We choose the Light or we choose the Darkness, we choose the Good or we choose the Evil, we choose the true God or the false God." She took a torch in her hand. "Free Folk, there is only one true King and his name is Stannis Baratheon. Here is your King of Lies, Mance Rayder. Remember the fate of those who choose Darkness."  
At the end of her speech, she began to burn the wood under the feet of Mance Rayder, who waved painfully against the pole to which he had been tied.  
Gilly leaned against Rhaenys' shoulder and refused to look.  
The scene was really terrible. King Beyond the Wall, tall and thin, he twisted himself with his face completely upset by the suffering.  
However, he was not screaming, not yet. The flames rose more and more and the smoke began to fill their nostrils.  
Then the lamentation began, first bearable, then desperate. Until an arrow hit Mance Rayder straight to his heart, killing him and sparing him the rest of the pain.  
Rhaenys turned and saw Jon, beyond the parapet, with a bow in his hand, his face outstretched and his eyes deeply sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Sand Snakes are getting to know the Wall way of life, but they're still not involved enough. They haven't been told about the White Walkers yet. For now.  
Tell me what you think about this chapter! :)  
Until next time!


	6. The Danger Beyond the Wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These days I made a nice trip, but now I'm back home and I had time to publish the new chapter,  
Sorry to keep you waiting. I hope you like it.  
I won’t keep you long  
Enjoy reading!

The evening was terribly silent and icy and, although Rhaenys was covered and crushed against Tyene's body, she just couldn't sleep. She had a sort of anxiety within herself. Mance Rayder's image continued to turn in her head, she still felt his heartbreaking lamentations and saw his suffering eyes looking for help.  
She imagined she was the one burning on the pyre, as an enemy of the crown and dying in front of everyone with the name of Rhaenys Targaryen.  
Without realizing it, she slipped into a light sleep, made of faded images that condensed into a single dark dream. In the dream Rhaenys was climbing a mountain, looking at the top but not seeing the sky, just fog. She climbed the mountain without knowing why or when it would end.  
Below her, many feet below burned a fiery pyre that raised black smoke, which mixed with the gray of the fog.  
Her hands hurt, squeezed around the rough stone, but they kept looking for a stable grip. Rhaenys kept climbing, again and again.  
Suddenly she heard a melodious male voice repeatedly calling her name, then she raised her eyes and saw that cloud of smoke and fog dissipate. Now she knew, what was expecting her.  
At the top of the mountain, much higher up, she could see sharp swords like needles rising up to the sky. The Iron Throne waited motionless, like a silent giant.  
"When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground."  
Rhaenys woke up suddenly, the forehead soaked in sweat and the heart in his throat. She looked around and realized that it was still late at night. The others slept, as it was obvious, including Obara snoring to the limits of the human decency. Rhaenys thought that if someone tried to enter the Tower, he would run away immediately, fearing that he was run into a sleeping big hound.  
She sighed and slipped away silently out of the cot, then covered herself with fur and a cape. She needed to walk, to forget what she had seen the evening before. what she had dreamed.  
She came down quickly from the Tower and, as quietly as possible, crossed the poorly lit courtyard, but was paralyzed by a presence sat in the night. A dark figure in the night, who had an enormous white wolf beside him. Ghost.  
So the one seated had to be Jon.  
The dire wolf sensed Rhaenys' light step or perhaps her scent because he jumped up and turned, prompting his owner to do the same.  
Jon's eyes rested on the little figure of the girl and became softer and softer, but still sad, just as Rhaenys had seen them a few hours earlier.

"You shouldn't be here alone," he whispered faintly, turning his body towards her.

"I needed to walk," whispered Rhaenys, before cautiously approaching and taking her place in front of Jon. Ghost continued to stare at her with his little red eyes that seemed illuminated against the darkness of the night. "How are you?" 

Jon grunted. "Good, very good. Don't you see me?" he asked, severely sarcastic.

Rhaenys turned up her nose and got up. "Sorry, wrong time. I'm leaving. See you in training."

However, in the end, she couldn't turn around because Jon had grabbed her wrist, holding it firmly. He looked at her with mortified eyes, full of excuses. It was clear that he was not well and that he needed to talk to someone about it. "I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of killing," he admitted, defeated, his voice low and soft. Hearing Jon's dented tone, Rhaenys swallowed and came back to sit down, slowly. His warm hand left her wrist, after a brief hesitation, and she felt disappointed. "When I left Winterfell I didn't think it would be like that, I was really naive and full of expectations and ideals. This place has changed my way of seeing, it has changed me. I am no longer the summer boy who left. Winter is coming, and yet I'm the only one who notices it because in spite of this everyone does nothing but thinks about this bloody Throne. I think they also dream of it at night. But if they only saw what I saw, they wouldn't sleep at all. ”

Rhaenys smiled bitterly. What an irony, she thought. Just that night she had dreamt of the Iron Thorne; what Jon didn't know was that she wasn't interested in it, just like he wasn't interested in it. The reason for the dream was, in fact, still unknown to her. Maybe it was a mirror of her fears, the fear of being discovered for what she was, the worrying thoughts that Mance Rayder's burning had brought with it, but above all, it could be a reflection of her uncle's expectations. Or maybe it wasn't any of that.  
Unaware of the dangers Beyond the Wall, he could not even imagine what Jon was referring to when he was talking about the winter that was coming and the terrible things he had seen out there.

"Man, I didn't know you could make such long speeches," she observed, making him smile at least a little. "Believe me, I know a little about this 'bloody Throne' and conspiracies. My uncle, Prince Doran, does nothing but talk about it and he is one of the most intelligent people I know."

"I imagine that the Throne has a particular value for your family" reasoned Jon, thoughtful, his eyebrows corrugated. "You didn't even want to bow to Stannis, I remember."

Rhaenys bit her own lip. She didn't want the Throne and at the same time, she didn't want to bow. Her life was a beautiful and good contradiction. "It is not in the nature of my father's House nor was it in my mother's nature," she declared, looking elsewhere, far away from the Wall that loomed over them more threatening than ever. At night it was barely possible to distinguish its profile, but it seemed like nothing more than a black, enormous mass. The wave of a stormy sea that was about to crash on them.

"You've never mentioned your mother before," Jon remarked, as his eyes slid from her dark eyes to her smooth, olive, immaculate neck. He swallowed and immediately came back to look her in the face.

"I don't know much about her, I remember her eyes and her smile, but I was too young when she died."

"How did she die?" asked Jon, hoping not to be indelicate. 

"Killed" whispered Rhaenys, returning to look at the boy in front of her. They scrutinized each other, silent and understanding. To tell at least part of the truth to Jon was beautiful, solace. He, on the other hand, felt a veil of tenderness. "According to my uncles I look a lot like her, both inside and out, so they always put me in a glass case, like I was something to protect. Sometimes it was suffocating."

"You know, you obviously have a different education than your sisters. You've always this straight position, even while you're sitting, sometimes it seems uncomfortable."

Rhaenys giggled ironically. Yes, over the years Doran had also taken care of her posture until it had become erect and composed like that of a queen. "It's not uncomfortable, I'm used to sitting like this, my uncle taught me to behave like a ... Lady, Princess of Dorne ... call it as you like." Or a queen. "What about your mother?"

Jon moved uncomfortably on the bench and just shrugged his shoulders. "Never known her, I don't even know who she is because my father never told me anything, I don't know if she's still alive or if she's dead. In short ... He was the noble and honorable Eddard Stark and she was ... I do not know, maybe a peasant or even a noble. I have never had a mother figure in my life and I would lie about saying that I didn't miss it."  
Rhae listened to Jon's thoughts with interest and reflection. Rhaenys' father had left her mother, preferring another woman, just like Jon's. She grew up with a maternal absence that over the years had become a heavy lack too. She had lost a large part of her family too, just like Jon had. In some ways, she felt that Jon's life was mirroring her own as if they had followed two distinct but parallel paths, which at one point had crossed. "I heard rumors about a certain Ashara Dayne, from Dorne. You've probably heard her name," he finished, the insecure tone of voice. 

"Ser Arthur Dayne's sister" exclaimed Rhaenys, enlightening herself with awareness. His father's best friend. "It is said that she was beautiful, that many men were in love with her. I know she was pregnant and lost the baby, but maybe it was a lie."  
Was Jon born in Dorne? Who knows, maybe while she was being taken to Sunspear, he was coming to light somewhere in the same kingdom.

The brother of the Night's Watch passed a hand over his face and sighed. "It doesn't matter, my father is dead and I will never know who she is for sure." 

"I'm sure she would be proud of you," Rhaenys firmly said, leaning one hand on his bigger, rougher hand, in the hope of offering him a little human affection.

"Thank you, I hope so" whispered Jon, staring at their hands, joined together like a chain. Such intimate contact with a woman who was not Ygritte was still strange to him, but he could not deny that it was also pleasant and that for some reason a single sentence of that girl could make him feel better than a thousand superficial speeches made by other people. Rhaena had a good heart.

Suddenly, as if she had read it in his mind, Rhaenys remembered that Jon was coming out from heavy mourning and hurried to withdraw her hand. "Some of my sisters still have mothers alive, I don't know how they can stay away from them."

"So you really were born from different mothers? Don't you even have one in common?"

"Dorne is very open," confessed Rhaenys with a malicious smile. "People do what they want with who they want without having to worry about it. Nym slept with women and several men at the same time. Everyone knows that. I mean, we're fluid people."

"Not you," commented Jon instinctively. Rhaenys widened her eyes and retired as if she was been burned, and the brother of the Night's Watch realized that he was too indiscreet. The red woman had spoken of a trauma, perhaps related to Rhaena's mother. "I'm sorry, that was a really inappropriate comment. That's not me, please forgive me. You spend months and months in contact with rough men and you forget how to behave. Don't leave, stay." Ghost whined. "He wants you to stay too," joked Jon, pulling a little smile out of her.  
In the end, Rhaenys stayed and the two of them talked a lot more about their past lives and their homes, but they never touched on other sad arguments. Jon didn't even find an opportunity to name that great threat that awaited them, Beyond the Wall. 

The whole day passed between training and homework assigned by Ser Alliser Thorne. Rhaenys managed to make a short visit to Master Aemon, devoted himself to cooking with Gilly and took a walk with Shireen.  
In the evening, she and her cousins sat down at the table as usual with Jon and the other new friends from the Wall. Pyp made a loaded imitation of Bowen Marsh, while Obara challenged Grenn to a race of burps, under the scandalized eyes of Nym and Gilly. Sam was provoked all the time by Tyene, supported by Edd.  
Jon and Rhaenys, on the other hand, made fun of Ser Alliser Thorne, who was constantly being watched with repulsion by Stannis.  
The next day they worked hard and the next day they worked hard again.

The Sands Snakes had completely settled in, in just under a week. Their spirit of adaptation had surpassed the cold of the Wall and the presence of almost only men. Jon knew that the time had come to tell the girls about the White Walkers, but he kept postponing, he didn't even know the precise reason.  
His relationship with Rhaena continued to grow, reaching a new level of intimacy.  
Jon could trust her. He confided her private things, without fear of appearing weak, because he didn't feel judged by her, while this rarely happened with everyone else. Rhaenys also wanted to tell him more and more about her life, she felt listened to and understood by Jon. He was one of the deepest and most interesting person she had ever met.  
At the same time, there was something physical, a primordial attraction that warmed and twisted her belly. Their instincts pushed them to look for each other, to find each other, to touch each other if possible.

One day, Rhaenys, Nym, Obara, and Tyene felt the need to disconnect. So they began to explore and, once back in the Lord Commander's room, they found a small wooden tub.

They could finally clean themselves thoroughly. They didn't want to smell like men, or at least they all did except Obara.  
Finally, they filled the tub, then they took a bath two at a time, first Tyene and Nym and, finally, Obara and Rhaenys. Just at the end, Nymeria and Tyene exchanged some malicious looks.

"Rhae" called Nym, in a tone that her cousin found suspicious from the start, "do you know a place to stay in private here in Castle Black?"

Rhaenys raised an eyebrow. "You've found a man worthy of your precious flower yet," she joked, poking at Nymeria, while Obara and Tyene chuckled like two vipers. 

Nym carried her own hand over her chest and raised the eyes, pretending to be offended. "No, I thought more that you were ready to desecrate yours. You know, you should tell it to your best friends." Rhaenys just puffed. "What? Isn't that right? I know you're ready to open up like a door."

Rhaenys blushed violently. "Nym!" screamed, spraying her cousin, who was trying to cover herself from the splashing water while she laughing amusedly. They went on like this for a while, until Obara decided to intervene.

"You've never looked at a guy like that," she noticed.

"Pff, are you serious, Obara? You're wrong, I've already been in love with a guy."

"Yes, you gave your first kiss to a young stable boy. What was his name? Tomm? By the way, great job, getting caught by uncle Doran while you kissing him, I bet he's still proud of you," commented Tyene, the sarcastic tone, trying to provoke her cousin. "But you weren't in love with him. You hadn't looked with those languid eyes nobody, neither the stable boy nor anybody else, nobody but Jon Snow."

Rhaenys sighed and returned to look at her feet in the tub. Of course, she liked Jon, he was handsome, intelligent, honest and had a sort of melancholy in his eyes, which often accompanied her too, especially when she was alone. He didn't smile often, but he smiled at her, and his smile was so soft that it made her heartbeat. In fact, she really felt like a little girl sometimes and yet she couldn't come forward, because Jon deserved more respect. "She lost a girl she loved more than thirty nights ago, so Edd said."  
"Thirty nights and more? What nonsense, only these men of the North know how to be so dramatic" bofonchiò Nym, the bored tone.

"Nym! If I were her, that wildling girl, I would not be forgotten so quickly by someone like him."

"Someone like him? Man, you really like him," Obara observed, smiling at her cousin on the other side of the pool, who in turn shyly smiled back. 

Tyene, on the other hand, snorted impatiently. "In short, what's the boy going to do? He will stay in mourning for the rest of his life?"

Rhaenys closed her eyes and put a hand on her own face. "Tyene, he is basically a sworn brother of the Night's Watch," she exclaimed, stirred. They just couldn't understand.

"Who are you talking about?" asked someone at the door. It was Gilly, who arrived with little Sam in her arms, as always in absolute silence and without anyone noticing. 

"Gilly, can you stop to appear at a surprise?" asked Obara, nervous. Rhae understood her discomfort; often when they were alone they would take certain liberties. By sneaking in, Gilly could discover her secret.

The wildling blushed, embarrassed. "Excuse me so much, I'm here because Ser Alliser Thorne is looking for you, he wants to assign you some tasks."

That evening, as every previous evening, the four Sand Snakes went to the Common Hall, but this time as soon as they entered they were intercepted by Gueren. They had not talked to the recruiter since he had escorted them to their room. They knew that he would soon leave for the capital, looking for new members to recruit.  
The man immediately noticed them and took advantage of them to find out about their condition.

"So how are you girls doing?"

"We can breathe without you giving us instructions," joked Tyene, winking in his direction.

Gueren burst out laughing and, with his voice, congratulated them: "What progress! I'm glad you're settling in."

Rhaenys smiled at him and then followed Obara, as they went to retrieve some cups with the meal that the cooks on duty had prepared.  
Before they could reach their new friends' table, however, Rhae intercepted Master Aemon, sitting alone at the main table. Neither Stannis nor any of the oldest members of the Night's Watch had yet sat with him.  
"Go on, girls, I have to do something," she said, in the direction of her cousins, before going straight to the big table. Cautiously she approached Aemon Targaryen and, once next to him, she announced her arrival. "Master Aemon, may I speak to you?"

"Sit down and tell me," said the oldest gentleman, with his usual phlegmatic tone. 

Rhaenys obeyed and sat down next to her newfound relative. "We've been here for many days, when will the time come to take our vows?" he asked, quickly, without too much beating around the bush.  
She asked that question for a very clear reason; in fact, she was not sure that they could stay there forever. Doran would never allow it. Rather, he would come to the north with an army to follow, ready to challenge Cersei or anyone else.  
Or perhaps he would have continued to do what he knew to do best, which is to be patient and conspiring.  
In any case, he would not have left at the Wall any of his nephews and especially not her. 

"It will be decided by the new Lord Commander who will be elected soon."

"What if he doesn't want to? In short, would it be possible to stay at the Wall again without becoming sworn sisters? To be like Gilly, to be free. Cersei Lannister wouldn't know anything about it."

"Why? Are you in a hurry to go somewhere else?" Master Aemon asked with an amused air. He wouldn't understand what was going on in Rhaenys' head, not without being aware of the facts. "I feel like there's something you want to tell me, and yet you can't. My dear, know that you can trust me, I would never dare harm a poor girl who already has the misfortune to being here. If it's a secret you want to tell me, you better know it will follow me to the grave."

Rhaenys felt moved by Aemon's sensitivity. He was a very wise and understanding man, enough to understand that she was hiding something from him. Yet, he was a relative of hers, he could never hurt her. Not to Rhaegar's daughter, to Elia's daughter, a survivor of the terrible Targaryen tragedy that was the Rebellion.  
Rhae made sure that no one was close enough to hear them, then took a deep breath and finally began to confess in a whispering and trembling voice. "Master Aemon, you must know that I am not who I say I am, my real name is not Rhaena Sand. I'm not a Sand at all, I'm not a Martell. My own life is saved only thanks to my uncle Doran, but at the same time, it could be in grave danger if someone finds out who I really am. Especially under the rule of a Lannister or a Baratheon."

Aemon's face changed completely little by little, while she made her confession. He had the eyes of who were beginning to realize it but needed to hear before believe, so he waited to listen to her words.  
However, Rhaenys didn't have time to say anything else, when a powerful voice behind them made her jump.

"What is this female doing sitting in my place?" Ser Alliser Thorne, who had just entered the Common Hall, shouted. His small eyes squared Rhaenys coldly as he approached the table. Behind him walked Stannis, quiet and silence.

"We will discuss it tomorrow, in the library," Master Aemon whispered slowly, making himself heard only by her.

Rhaenys closed her eyes, mortified, and stood up, before tilting her head in the direction of Stannis. "Your Highness" whispered, with a sad smile. She didn't even know if her tone was credible or if it looked like a joke, but she didn't bother to study Stannis' reaction, rather she took up her own plate and sat down with her friends, with a bitter expression.  
Once again she had not been able to speak to Master Aemon alone, she had not been able to tell him who she was and she felt really empty for it.

"Are you all right?" Edd asked when Rhae reached her seat next to him and in front of Jon. The girl seemed really disheartened. The rest of the dinner companions turned to her, waiting for an answer, but it didn't come in time.

"So you decide to explain to me what you were talking about today?" Tyene mumbled, arguing animatedly with Grenn. When the big guy and she realized they had been heard, Tyene rushed to explain. "Today this fool of Grenn was talking about dead men walking, and now he won't explain to me if it was a way of saying or what the hell it meant."

Grenn became small in his corner, fought over. He didn't want to be the one to explain to the girls, he also feared Obara.

Nym, in response, grunted. "Dead men walking, of course. It's not funny, but it's very original, to tell the truth."

However, Rhaenys did not find anything original about it. She had already heard those stories from her nursemaid and even Jon Snow was just talking about alleged dangers Beyond the Wall, dangers that only he and a few others had faced. "Jon, you were talking about the real dangers Beyond the Wall," she reasoned out loud.

Jon sighed, realizing it was time to explain. By now those girls were part of their group, so it was right that they knew the dangers they were running to stay there. The best thing to do was to go straight to the question, without beating around the bush. "We call them Wights, they are literally what Grenn said, dead men, walking. We've seen them with our own eyes."

The four dornish girls were paralyzed, trying to understand how serious Jon was, and after they exchanged weirded looks between them. Now Rhaenys felt a knot in her throat. 

"I don't believe it," exclaimed Nym, convinced. 

They wouldn't believe the words of one. "We saw them, that's true, and I killed one," insisted Sam, feeling that the time had come to testify. 

"Saving me and little Sam," added Gilly. Edd, Pypar, and Grenn nodded.

Seeing them all united, while they were telling of dead people walking Beyond the Wall, Tyene swallowed. "Maybe you're not crazy, maybe you're making fun of us. Is this a joke? You know, I'm really getting scared, so it's time to stop and have a few laughs, all together." Her voice had started to shake.

Jon energetically shook his head. "It's not a joke, it's extremely serious and it's right that you should be as worried about it as we are," he said, staring at those girls one by one and dwelling on Rhaena in particular. He knew she would believe him. She trusted him.

"My nurse Beth told me about these stories when I was little, but I thought they were just that, stories," commented Rhaenys, with one hand under her chin. She needed confirmations, to know more. "What do they look like?" She needed details. That story was absurd.

"There's not much to say in reality. When someone dies and we don't burn his body, it comes to life with blue eyes, an unnatural blue," Jon began to explain, his look pointed in Rhae's brown eyes. For some reason, he wanted to make sure she understood, that she was on his side. For some reason he needed it.  
"Then there are the Others or White Walkers, who are cold beings who direct the Wights. They are tall, hollowed out, with alabaster-colored skin. They are pure evil and they stop at nothing. Although we have discovered how to kill them, with Dragonglass and there are many, many more than you can imagine. Winter is coming."

Tyene and Rhaenys felt their hearts beat faster. It was all so absurd. How could it be real? In fact, they didn't know what to say, while a rational part of them tried to deny any form of foreign existence, whether they were monsters or living dead. Suddenly it was colder even in the Common Hall.  
Rhaenys had sweaty palms on her hands. Dragonglass ... It was all connected to the Targaryen, or rather to the fire. The opposite of ice. Fire and Ice.

Obara raised an eyebrow. "Winter is coming? Isn't that the motto of House Stark? Or do you mean these monsters? Have you forgotten about the Wall? Can they climb over? Swimming?" she insisted, overwhelming Jon with a flurry of questions.

"Can we stop talking about it?" intervened Nym, the tone of voice higher than a few octaves, attracting the glances of some present. "I don't like this story."

Jon shook his head. He couldn't understand; how could they think it was a joke? In short, it wasn't just a story told by him, but by all his friends, including Gilly. "This is not a story you may like or you may not like it, they're really out there," he insisted, looking at Nymeria with an air of reproach.

The girl snorted aggressively, getting on her feet. "You know what? You're boring. I'm leaving." Having said that, she abruptly moved away from the bench and table. "Rhae, not what you find so attractive about him," she shouted, hurrying to leave the Common Hall, banging her feet to the ground. The specter of her scream disappeared with her, leaving everyone astonished. Ghost moved his head to the side, confused, as he saw her furious exit. Jon was open-mouthed, but he couldn't look at Rhaena. 

"Sorry, my sister Nymeria, she reacts like that when she's scared, she's very superficial," Obara went on to justify, bored.

Tyene felt that a kind of embarrassment had fallen on the table and decided that it was time to change the subject. "So Sam, how did you kill a ... thing? You're a pretty amazing man, you know?" she asked, settling a playful elbow in the ribs of the poor Tarly.  
The boy moaned and almost bowed from the pain, bringing his hand over the point where he had been hit. More than girls, those four Sand's looked like siege rams, but by then he had gotten used to it.

"We've all called him Sam the Slayer ever since," Edd reiterated.

"I have yet to realize," murmured Tyene, in denial. It was difficult for them from Dorne to believe such stories.  
In the South there was a sort of twisted perception of the Northists; it was believed that the peoples of the North were backward and superstitious people, as well as racist. Maybe something was true, but even those stories could have a background of truth.

"I ... I'm going to Nym's, it's not good for her to go around alone at night." Rhaenys got up from the table before anyone could add anything else and ran up the steps to climb to the upper floors. She was genuinely worried about Nymeria, who seemed to be one of the four who had faced the change the worst.  
In a few leaps, she was in the Lord Commander's Tower and immediately afterward in their room, where her cousin was huddled up on her own cot, sitting with her knees pressed against her chest. It didn't take long before she noticed Rhae's hasty arrival.

"I hate this place, I want to go back to my house," whispered Nym, began crying shamelessly. Her face was contrite, as she tried to find suitable words to say, and at the same time, she used her wrist to drive the tears away from her cheeks. "I hate the Lannisters."  
Rhae sadly sat on top of the cot and held Nymeria with one arm. Nym sought refuge against the chest of the youngest, even though Rhaenys looked much bigger than her at the time. 

And holding her cousin as tight as she could, trying to envelop her with affection, Rhae whispered, "It's going to be all right, honey. We're together, always together. You'll see that we will come out this, united and indissoluble, as we have been since the first time. We are the Sand Snakes."  
She believed it. She didn't know why, but Rhaenys firmly believed in Jon, she trusted him more than anyone else at the Wall. He was similar to her.  
So they had to accept that White Walkers existed, that the dead would rise and that they were in danger. Yet they could get out of it, one way or another. As long as they were alive they could fight, all together.


End file.
